On the 26th July, 2006, Blackboard Inc, the organisation that owns the Learning Management System (LMS) products Blackboard and WebCT, announced it had successfully acquired a patent over many of the core functionalities of learning management systems worldwide, from a patent application filed in 1999. On the same day, it lodged civil proceedings against Desire2Learn, a small start-up developing their own competing enterprise LMS vendor.
Given that LMS philosophy and technologies had been developed independantly by a number of entities over the preceding decade, Blackboard’s claim seems ridiculous. However, their prompt action against Desire2Learn demonstrates the willingness of Blackboard Inc to use their patent as a means to remove their competition.
This blog is being set up as a source of information and resources on the issue of Blackboard’s patent and the intellectual property issues of e-learning technologies in general. Interested educators are invited to join and contribute to this resource, and to add to the associated wiki, http://blackfate.wikispaces.com
4 responses so far ↓
1
Don McIntosh
// Aug 2, 2006 at 4:52 pm
This is indeed ridiculous but scary. What is Blackboard’s strategy? Is there any way to protest a patent which has already been granted?
Ironically WebCT came before Blackboard, the patent application and the purchase of WebCT by Blackboard. If anyone could lay claim to inventing these technologies, it might be the precursor to Odyssey Learning Systems’ Nautikos.
Blackboard may be suing Desire2Learn but how will it sue all the open source competitors like Moodle, Sakai, Bodington, ATutor, etc.?
Don McIntosh
2
Don McIntosh
// Aug 2, 2006 at 4:54 pm
In defence of Desire2Learn, they are much more than “a small start up”. They have been in business for several years and are a viable competitor to Blackboard and others.
3
Chris Lavergne
// Aug 3, 2006 at 2:25 am
If anyone is interested here is the official legal case against Desire2Learn: http://www.theinquirer.net/images/articles/blackboard.pdf
Don, as far overturning patents its very rare and hard. That said its not impossible. This website is a great start.
4
Don McIntosh
// Aug 3, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Thanks Chris.
I checked out this site and another at http://mfeldstein.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/blackboard_patents_the_lms/.
It seems to me that the wording of the patent is sufficiently vague that Blackboard could sue any of the 150 plus companies selling learning management systems. They appear to be suing Desire2Learn for essentially everything they sell. D2L has existed since 1999 and is probably Blackboard’s most important direct competitor now that Bb owns WebCT. Can they sue them for so-called patent infringements even before the patent came into effect?
On the site at http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=31833, we can see that a New Zealand actor has convinced the patent office to review Amazon’s “one-click” patent. He did so by showing that an earlier patent had been granted for essentially the same thing. It seems this would be the way to fight it. The question is who else might have been granted a patent or even submitted a patent application prior to 1999.
Is anyone up for taking this on?