The US patent system is screwed. During the heyday of dot.com, we were approached by a prominent consulting company. They wanted to partner with us on e-Learning. At that time, everyone in their mother was jockeying in the space. To make an impression, they showed me a long list of patents they had taken out related to pedagogy. Many of them were graned. One of them made by jaw drop. They had essentially patented the "socratic method".
So, beware. If you teach using the socratic method, you might need to pay royalties.
