:TeachTech

Some of you might still be following the patent lawsuit filed by Blackboard against Desire2Learn several years ago.
The initial court decisions were for Blackboard but the US Patent Office also opened the patent claims for more investigation.
Yesterday, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled in favor of Desire2Learn which basically overturned the lower court’s ruling. John Baker, Desire2Learn’s President, announced it on Twitter and the news spread pretty quickly.

As you can imagine, reaction from Blackboard is that of disappointment. Reaction from Desire2Learn is, well, happy.

There are still lawsuits in action here and in Canada but this is a major development in the saga. Steven Downes has a pretty complete history of the lawsuit at his site.

Reactions by others:
News: Blackboard Loses on Appeal – Inside Higher Ed

BohrerED – notes about academic technology: Great news for Desire2Learn

The Financial Impact of the Patent Loss on Blackboard

Patnt Law Blog (Patently-O): Blackboard: Federal Circuit Again Find Software-Related Means-Plus-Function Claims Invalid for Failing to Disclose Sufficient Structure

Share This

Comments Off

The move to create learning objects seems to have shifted somewhat. The trend was to create “silos” of objects that were only available to folks with accounts and hidden away behind passwords. With the growing acceptance of the Creative Commons copyright, you can share what you create with others and keep your rights as close or as loose as you want by selecting which license you want to apply to your work. Here’s a great overview video of Creative Commons.

Share This

Comments Off