Dear Mr. Thorne:
I commend you on your words in your recent press release regarding the Blackboard patent:
The fact that one company has been granted a patent for such a broad application and now is engaging in litigation with another eLearning provider is unfortunate for a market that traditionally has been fueled by innovation and choice. It also is unfortunate that Blackboard chose not to issue a press release when the patent was awarded this past January, at a time when the Department of Justice was investigating the antitrust ramifications of Blackboard’s merger with its competitor, WebCT.
Many in the eLearning community agree wholeheartedly with your sentiment. An environment of patent litigation absolutely will damage both innovation and customer choice in the eLearning marketplace. Given this vital issue of mutual interest, I hope you will understand when I express concern regarding eCollege’s own U.S.-issued patent numbers 6470171, 6965752, and 6871043 as well as pending U.S. patent application numbers 10062214, 10061794, 10766612, 10905862, 10906025, 10906033, 10906025, 11160487, 10870099, 11161151.Please understand that I am in no way equating your position to Blackboard’s. To my knowledge, eCollege hasn’t sued anyone for patent infringement. Nor am I commenting–positively or negatively–on the legal merits and prior art related to your company’s patents and applications. I also recognize that there are perfectly legitimate reasons for companies to obtain defensive patents.
Likewise, I am sure that you understand very clearly why it is in everyone’s best interest to disarm the patent war before it heats up. That is why I am asking you to donate eCollege’s patents to the OSDL Patent Commons or take similar steps to legally guarantee customers and competitors alike that your patents are purely defensive. eCollege’s positive leadership in this regard would stand in sharp contrast to Blackboard’s current unfortunate behavior and provide an example for the entire industry. I believe this leadership would contribute significantly to eCollege’s brand value in a sector that is highly sensitive to such issues.
Thank you for your consideration in this very serious matter.
Kindest regards,
Michael Feldstein
[…] myself. Here’s the skinny:Blackboard was granted a pretty crummy patent (I’m not the biggest fan of software patents in general) in January of 2006 that basically says only they can create course management software […]