The verdict, announced this afternoon, allows Blackboard Inc. to demand a ban on sales of Desire2Learn’s products in the United States.
The jury in Lufkin, Texas, awarded Blackboard damages of $3.1 million US for royalties and lost profits, according to Judge Roy Clark’s assistant.
The case has generated strong interest from the university community. Some information-technology professors fear Blackboard will use its patent, granted in 2006, to dominate its industry.
Blackboard is already by far the largest company offering classroom management software, which teachers use to communicate with students
![[Post to Twitter]](http://mfeldstein.com/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-micro3.png){kind=icon}
4 Comments
How many patents does Oracle hold, how many competitors have their sued (lets start with SAP)? And what about that purchase of INNODB? Or how about Oracle’s moves against Redhat? Inquiring minds in the open source world want to know. At least Bb has pledged not to sue the open source communities. Where is the Oracle patent pledge? Revolution starts at home. Still speechless?
First of all, John, this is my personal blog. I don’t claim that Oracle is a paragon of virtue, nor do I feel any compunction to personally defend their policies.
But since you brought it up, there are a number of differences worth highlighting. To begin with, I invite you to list recent patent infringement suits in which Oracle was the plaintiff. I think you’ll have a hard time finding examples. And you certainly won’t find any examples of Oracle asserting a patent against an educational software company. I have long argued on this blog (since well before I was an Oracle employee) that higher education is a special case because the economics are so weak that patent assertion is particularly harmful.
I could go into a longer list of details about how Oracle competing against RedHat, a publicly traded enterprise software company with a multi-billion-dollar market cap, in no way resembles Blackboard suing a small educational software company over a dubious patent, but again, I feel no compunction to defend my employer in my personal blog.
Do yourself a favor, though. The next time you decide to post a flame to somebody else’s blog, do your homework first. If you want to know the details about the Blackboard patent and my positions on it, then start reading.
I work at a college that uses another CMS, ANGEL. My concern is that Blackboard will go after them next. What does Blackboard really expect to get out all this? I cannot believe that the money is really worth it for them? Do they think these companies will just go away? Blackboard made Prometheus disappear many years ago at the same time assuring their customers that nothing would change. Blackboard has done the same with WebCT. I work in the state of Florida where many of the community colleges that were on WebCT were getting really bad service after the “merger.” Many of them have switched to ANGEL. Maybe in the end Blackboard will kill themselves with these lawsuits? One can only hope.
Why did they take the court case to Lufkin? Because the judge was an imbred? This is absolutely impossible. That patent was like trying to copyright rockn’roll. I thought it would never hold up.
3 Trackbacks
[...] all bookmarks tagged speechlessOwn a Wordpress blog? Make monetization easier with the WP Affiliate Pro plugin. Blackboard Won saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/22/08 | mfeldstein.com Patience with parents saved by 2 others kohanababe bookmarked on 02/22/08 | qisas.com Speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | hafeez18.wordpress.com completely speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | lyricequine.wordpress.com Speechless on the Brink of the Abyss. saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | azandi.wordpress.com Absolutely speechless… saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | mymundanemusings.wordpress.com speechless… saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | rainys.wordpress.com Kenya / speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.blog.africareporter.net Speechless in Spain saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | equator.eftours.com Thanks, guys, I’m speechless saved by 2 others mcmentalninja2 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | catholicpostergirl.stblogs.com I’m Speechless. saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.youareatree.com Why a speechless Jewell must regret leaving Wigan saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.footballingworld.com Suju’s shindong is SPEECHLESS in front of girls,… saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | kpoplover4ever.wordpress.com Nearly Speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | katcampbell.wordpress.com Speechless…. saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | armenianeagle.com Speechless saved by 3 others incalove333 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | everydaynurses.com Korean Leader Is Speechless … saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | jokes.stevenwongblog.com Weekend Devotion – Leave 'em Speechless! saved by 5 others HAO2Darts bookmarked on 02/21/08 | unequalmarriage.typepad.com Speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | freeandflawed.com "Speechless": Jennifer Jason Leigh saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com speechless saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | coffeeandsci.wordpress.com Speechless in Seattle saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.bigsoccer.com I Would Say I’m Speechless… saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.kissatlanta.com Almost Speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | acceptancewithjoy.wordpress.com Speechless saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | jessdager.wordpress.com Speechless Speaker saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.geekriddles.com Thank you so much, I'm speechless…. saved by 1 others melisischazz bookmarked on 02/21/08 | mylifeafterwu.teachfor.us This Redwood City house leaves me speechless saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | http://www.burbed.com Marital advice that'll leave you speechless…… saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 02/21/08 | pensieve.typepad.com 2008 Book #1 – Batman: Year One saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 02/21/08 | robohit.wordpress.com 2nd day of mjc saved by 4 others KNOCKOUTboostu bookmarked on 02/21/08 | zingerburger.wordpress.com Insider: Green Compatibility A Pure Marketing Play saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 01/27/08 | http://www.pheedo.com To the Young bloggers from Horizon Lanka – The b… saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 01/27/08 | horizonlanka.wordpress.com speechless saved by 2 others hotsaucelakers bookmarked on 01/27/08 | polkadotwitch.wordpress.com I’m freaking speechless saved by 2 others mannypatel1 bookmarked on 01/27/08 | notesfrom2moms.wordpress.com Brigitte Bronze & Steel Rosebud Plug by Julia… saved by 2 others Infamouschris1 bookmarked on 01/27/08 | http://www.thisnext.com So incredible, I just, . . I’m speechless. . wow… saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 01/25/08 | silentchampion.wordpress.com Speechless. saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 01/25/08 | gallopingnelly.wordpress.com Speechless saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 01/25/08 | meeshlet.wordpress.com The End of Apple – Steve Jobs speechless! saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 01/25/08 | iphonegap.com Just a tad speechless … saved by 2 others petitpoil bookmarked on 01/25/08 | shakatak66.wordpress.com I'm speechless saved by 2 others evilenvygirl bookmarked on 01/25/08 | http://www.lds.net Giuliani ‘08 Campaign Deathwatch – Today’s Stage: … saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | ablognamedsue.typepad.com Holy Shit, check this Eer saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | loserswithsocks.com It’s A Major Award!* saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | knittymuggins.wordpress.com Oh. My. Fucking. God. saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | http://www.laurennmccubbin.com Steven D. Greydanus’s favorites of 2007 saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | lookingcloser.wordpress.com Book Review: Three Million Acres of Flame saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | ourgaggleofgirls.com Least Surprising News Of The Day! saved by 1 others FamoustheLegend bookmarked on 01/20/08 | freedomfolks.com Would you take screenwriting tips from a man with … saved by 18 others RockLee49912 bookmarked on 01/20/08 | http://www.seemesellascreenplay.com [...]
[...] Michael Feldstein has been doing a fantastic job of keeping the community up to date on developments in this case. As he writes, it looks like neither company is a winner as the cost of the case will outweigh Blackboard’s costs, D2L already have one major customer on record wondering whether their license prices will be hit, and innovation in education will potentially be stifled. While Blackboard have pledged not to sue open source companies who break their LMS patents, Alan Shapiro notes that they don’t have a great track record of standing by previous pledges (they pledged to customers of WebCT and Prometheus that nothing would change following their acqusition, and those products were subsequently discontinued). The jury’s verdict is by no means the last word. The US Patent and Trademark Office are still re-examining the patent’s validity following requests by both D2L – who have invalidated 35 out of the 44 patent claims – and the Software Freedom Law Centre on behalf of open source LMSs Sakai, Moodle and ATutor. [...]
[...] 然而，Michael Feldstein或许总结了大多数观察者的观点：“我无语了。”Feldstein给出了大家的反应，包括链接到Desire2Learn致客户信函的一个帖子，《学院技术》上关于该案例的一篇文章以及Waterloo Record文章的总结。 [...]