Online Testing Patented

An anonymous reader writes "For those who think that online testing is an obvious idea, please be advised that the USPTO recently issued U.S. Patent No. 6,513,042 for online testing to two Ohio inventors. According to an article in NEOhio CrainTech, "As of last week, Test Central Inc. in Cleveland owns the U.S. patent to conduct testing via the Internet and, in essence, owns the online testing business.""

Comments

Breadth: Doesn't cover all online tests

[DeadSea]

The patent does not cover all online tests. There are numerous ways to avoid infringing on this patent.

In claim 1:

wherein a test-taker is required to pay to take the compiled test;

If there is no money involved you do not violate this patent. If you pay for a course and take a test as part of that course there are other ways around it

In claim 13:

wherein a test-maker and a proprietor of the first computer share the revenues generated by the test-taker taking the test.

There must be at least two parties making money of the testing. The first being the test maker and the second being the person who owns testing computer. If you make your own tests and host the tests on your own computer, you do not infringe.

There are also claims about creating and filing tests. It appears that if you were to choose a category for your test and then create the test in that category you would not infringe. (As opposed to creating the test, putting it in a temporary folder, and then moving it to the proper place as covered by the patent.)

Although I am skilled in the art, I am no patent lawyer. The patent system says that only a patent lawyer, and not somebody skilled in the art can say what a patent is about, so run this by your patent lawyer before making tests online.