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I plan to develop an open-source software application that speaks words in a foreign language while displaying pictures that represent the words. Can teaching methods (such as Rosetta Stone's language immersion software, which also displays a picture of a word while pronouncing the word) be patented? I'm concerned that someone might already have a patent over this method of instruction.

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My opinion is that teaching methods should not be patentable - are they currently patentable within any jurisdiction? – Anderson Green Oct 18 '12 at 19:18
I could do this very easily using existing open-source software packages such as festival and node-webkit. I have already created an application that pronounces words and images when they are moused-over. – Anderson Green Nov 18 '12 at 1:25

4 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

The US patent law does not exclude business methods from patentable subject matter. However, for software and mobile applications requires that the business method works in conjunction with a machine such as a computer or a mobile device. You can check check out the current case law In re Bilski http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_re_Bilski regarding the same about software and business methods.

However, I'm not sure that you will be able to get a grant if you file a patent application before USPTO for an open source software.

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I'm interested in knowing whether Rosetta Stone has consistently enforced this patent against their potential competitors. Would I risk being sued if I created a program that used images and words to teach a language, by displaying the words and images at the same time? – Anderson Green Dec 18 '12 at 18:45
All I really want to do is create a slideshow that is accompanied by spoken words in a particular language - would this infringe any patents? – Anderson Green Dec 18 '12 at 18:47
up vote 1 down vote

As a former teacher and an experienced software developer the method you are talking about sounds obvious so it should not be patentable.

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Is there any relevant legislation and/or cases concerning this issue? – Anderson Green Oct 18 '12 at 22:11
The following Google search contains lots of information about Rosetta's Stone's patent lawsuits: google.com/… – Anderson Green Oct 18 '12 at 22:15
Also, here's the a patent by Rosetta Stone (perhaps not covering simple teaching methods): google.com/patents/… – Anderson Green Oct 18 '12 at 22:18
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There are no particular laws or court decisions on this topic other than those that generally apply to patent law. Many teaching methods have been patented in the context of software and modules. See US 8,272,873 patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/…. The patentability question is simply whether the idea is new and nonobvious and whether its use can be described in a non-abstract and specific manner. – Dennis Crouch Oct 19 '12 at 11:48
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@DennisCrouch, you should consider making your comment a separate answer. Diego's answer doesn't respond to the specific question, and I think a specific answer would be useful for future viewers. – m3lvn Oct 23 '12 at 17:08
up vote 1 down vote

To directly answer part of your question - yes methods of teaching can be patented. I did a quick search in the class that covers educational devices (434) and had over 5000 hits of patents with the word "method" in at least one claim. Also searched for any patent with both method and teaching in the clam wording. About 1000 hits.

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up vote -1 down vote

Isn't that the same as the Langfort Method?

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Can you explain how the Langfort Method is relevant to language learning software? – Anderson Green Nov 18 '12 at 1:22
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Are you referring to some sort of method that was developed by David Langford? I'm not sure which method you're referring to, although I am familiar with the Pimsleur method. – Anderson Green Nov 18 '12 at 1:24
This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. – m3lvn Dec 16 '12 at 6:20
If you have a new question, please ask it by clicking the Ask Question button. Include a link to this question if it helps provide context. – Rory Alsop Mar 3 at 10:23

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