This is a guest post by Jim Farmer Two years ago while speaking at the Desire2Learn Users Conference, CEO John Baker learned that Blackboard Inc. accused Desire2Learn of infringing a Blackboard patent. Following a jury’s decision and failed attempts to reach a settlement, the dispute is now headed for appeal at the U.S. Court of […]
edupatents
Victory for D2L, Opportunity for Blackboard
Well, my flight was delayed, so I missed the opportunity to witness D2L’s court victory celebration at Graceland. And I’m sure that they celebrated tonight The court denied Blackboard’s motion for contempt, meaning that Desire2Learn version 8.3 was found to be “more than colorably different” than the infringing version of the software and the court […]
Connecting Blackboard to Sakai and Moodle
I didn’t intend to post about this, but people keep asking me what I think, so I guess I need to get something up. For starters, you should read Michael Korcuska’s post on the subject. I agree with everything he says. Beyond that, here’s what I think:
Blackboard Inc. Shows Deep Compassion for Desire2Learn Customers
As expected, Blackboard has taken Desire2Learn back to court, claiming that 8.3 still infringes and charging them with contempt. Interestingly, the news of this showed up simultaneously in Inside Higher Education, THE Journal, and The Chronicle. It looks like Blackboard may have something to say that they want to make sure we all hear. What […]
D2L Resolves Current Patent Burdens
According to the latest entry on D2L’s patent blog, D2L has payed the court judgment plus post-judgment interest in full and has also migrated all customers to version 8.3 of their software, which they claim does not infringe on the patent. There’s been some FUD flying around about whether D2L could handle the financial impact […]
Blackboard and Desire2Learn Fight Over Venue for Next Round
*Sigh.* At some point I hope the world–and the Blackboard case–will slow down enough so that I’ll actually have time to blog about something else. Here’s the latest from D2L’s patent blog: April, 2008 – Matthew Small, Blackboard’s Chief Legal Officer: “Certainly we believe the reexamination process is a healthy process. It serves to generally […]
An Update on Blackboard Calling Desire2Learn Customers
A while ago, I noted D2L’s claim that Blackboard General Counsel Matt Small (whose title either is going to be changed or has already been changed to “Chief Business Officer”) was calling D2L customers and encouraging them to switch over. I requested that readers contact me with any information that they have. I got a […]