OUR reports “Patent is network roadblock” (TES OnLine, November 1) and “Patent claim contested” (TES, In Brief, November 15) inadvertently confused the owner and the licensee of a patent for the transmission of pupil data via a wireless network. Frontline Technology Ltd (FTL) owns the patent and the licensee is Bromcom Computers plc; the two companies have the same managing director and company secretary and some shareholders in common. While the Department for Education and Skills has advised schools not to buy an individual patent licence from Bromcom for use with third party hardware andor software until a legal dispute over the validity of the patent has been settled, it has not cautioned schools against buying Bromcom products or services.