Blackboard E-Learning Patent

Sun

Aug 13
2006

listen

Blackboard E-Learning Patent

A little bird wrote:

You may or may not have heard that the major Learning Management System player, Blackboard (75% share), has recently gotten offensive with a patent claim. They're suing another player in our space, Desire2Learn. It's caused a massive uproar amongst the elearning community, as there are huge and obvious issues of prior art that appear to have been completely ignored by the patent office. The open source community (Moodle, and also Sakai) and other commercial players are collaborating using wikipedia to gather prior art history. It's lit the wires unlike any topic I've seen in recent memory. There's some interesting backlash on boycottblackboard.org.

See also the Wikipedia entry offering a plain language translation of the patent. It's a great example of someone using clear and ordinary language to illustrate just how far patent filings have come from their original intent of instructing people about how a purported invention works, and how far they go to obscure by legal language the appropriate prior art.

I also find it interesting that Wikipedia is being used as a venue for this activism. It says something important about the role that Wikipedia is beginning to play as a canonical source for information about important topics.

A few more relevant links:

1. A No Edu Patents website has sprung up in the wake of this.

2. Michael Feldstein is a prodigious blogger in the elearning industry. Feldstein's blog, e-Literate has the full history and lots of links to other relevant information.

3. The online petition against Blackboard's patent, with several of their customers piping in.

4. The Moodle Community wiki about the patent and what it means, with postings by Moodle founder Martin Dougimas.

(O'Reilly publishes a book on Moodle, Using Moodle.)

tags: | comments: 21 | Sphere It
submit:

Previous | Next

0 TrackBacks

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.oreilly.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/4849

Comments: 21

Riley [08.13.06 07:18 AM]

I am an internet consultant and Blackboard will never recieve a recommendation from me. I cannot in good faith reccommend my clients to dirty company and patent troll.

James Lyon [08.13.06 07:43 AM]

Well, Blackboard has been growing in size for a long time now. Acquiring company after company, some of which have been around much longer than Blackboard. Therefore, their claims to the patent are blurred, and the e-learning community must work even harder to undo the damage that the patent has done already. I work as a software architect for a company who has more than a decade of prior art and I don't feel worried about Blackboard's claims as much as the patent office's apparent lack of research. It's as if, the patent office doesn't care about technology enough to look into individual filings truthfullness.

Ryan [08.13.06 07:56 AM]

By the way, the plain English translation is at the No Edu Patents site, not at Wikipedia.

Alfred Essa [08.13.06 02:16 PM]

I am surprised that the open source community has remained largely silent on the issue of software patents. Richard Stallman seems to be the lone voice.

Michael Feldstein [08.13.06 03:31 PM]

Ryan is correct; the patent language is at NoEduPatents.org. That said, the Wikipedia entry on the History of Virtual Learning Environments became one of the early repositories for the prior art effort.

By the way, Al Essa, whose name links to his blog on his comment above, also has some outstanding analysis of the patent issues on said blog. Well worth the read.

Koshchei [08.13.06 04:03 PM]

I certainly hope the EFF is considering this for its "Patent Buster" project. They've already managed to get a couple of ridiculous patents reexamined:

http://www.eff.org/patent/

Alfred Essa [08.13.06 05:41 PM]

I contacted the EFF a couple of weeks ago but they have yet to respond. Does any know how we can get it on their radar?

Luis Villa [08.13.06 09:37 PM]

Al: I nearly emailed you this morning about this; should have known you'd already be on it. :) I might suggest poking the Public Patent Foundation (pubpat.org)- this patent seems right up their alley.

Scott Petersen [08.14.06 09:32 AM]

I worked on Computer Based Training for the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Postal Service and in private industry between 1991 and 1998. After a quick perusal of the English translation, I didn't see anything in their claims that isn't something we were doing fifteen years ago.

Chris Coppola [08.18.06 09:24 AM]

Keep an eye on the Sakai Foundation. The Foundation has retained open source attorney Eben Moglen and his Software Freedom Law Center to fight the patent.

From the press release:

"The recent announcement by Blackboard that it is attempting to assert patent rights over simple and longstanding online technologies as applied to the area of course management systems and e-learning technologies, and its subsequent litigation against a smaller commercial competitor constitutes a threat to the effective and open development of software for higher education and the values underlying such open activities."

Chris Coppola [08.18.06 09:25 AM]

Oops. Here's the URL for that press release:
http://www.sakaiproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=442&Itemid=312

WL Wong [08.21.06 05:16 PM]

Hi,

Spotted this today...
Blackboard sues, gets sued over online process
patent http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2006/08/21/story3.html

Anyone knows more?

Cheers
WL

Kevin [08.30.06 08:25 PM]

www.WikiPatents.com - Community Patent Review

WikiPatents
recently became the first and only web site to enable organized public
comment on issued patents and, soon, pending patent applications.
WikiPatents was developed to strengthen the U.S. patent system by
providing increased visibility into the legal strength, technical
merits, and market aspects of each patent through public comment.
Through our combined support and participation, WikiPatents will become
an indispensable resource to increase certainty for patent Examiners,
law firms, future litigants, licensees, potential investors, inventors,
and patent owners.

The WikiPatents Community was established largely in response to the
USPTO's recent focus on improving patent quality. "The USPTO clearly
has a responsibility to do everything it can to improve America's patent
system. That is why we are undertaking this collaborative approach -
putting forth quality and efficiency proposals for the patent community
to give us feedback," said Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property Jon Dudas. "Applicants and the public deserve certainty. This
focus on quality of applications and closure of the examination process
will provide more certainty. Everyone agrees that better quality input
will result in a better quality end product." (See
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/speeches/06-26.htm) By adding and
voting on overlooked prior art and submitting public comments on the
merits of issued patents, the WikiPatents Community provides an
invaluable resource to patent Examiners reviewing related pending
applications.

Anyone can join the WikiPatents Community for free and voice concerns,
praise, comments, and opinions on any issued patent. As a member, you
can:

- Add prior art, and vote and comment on its relevancy and implications
- Add relevant links and other useful resources
- Promote specific patents by linking them to social news, bookmarking,
and networking sites
- Comment and vote on the legal strength and technical merits of patents
- Value patents by calculating market size, market share, and reasonable
royalties
- Discuss licensing options
- Add relevant information about the inventor(s) and/or owner(s) of
patents
- Comment on the legal strength and technical merits of patents
- Download free patent PDFs.

WikiPatents has exciting plans beyond its initial "beta launch" to
improve and expand the site into a thriving community of public
commentary on patents and pending patent applications. Please support
the site's launch by adding your comments to a patent of interest.

Inserons7 [10.23.06 01:15 PM]

wyoming life insurance wyoming life insurance

car insurance nevada car insurance nevada
rate life insurance rate life insurance

life insurance rate life insurance rate

petrovich [02.06.07 02:47 AM]

Ïåðåä Âàìè íîâûé ïðîåêò 'WM MLM'. Äëÿ ó÷àñòèÿ â ïðîåêòå Âàì íóæíî çàðåãèñòðèðîâàòüñÿ è ïåðåéòè íà ïåðâûé óðîâåíü, âñå âàøè çàòðàòû íå ïðåâûñÿò 1$ . Ñîãëàñèòåñü ÷òî êàæäûé èç âàñ õîòåë ïîó÷àñòâîâàòü â ïðîåêòå, òåïåðü ó Âàñ åñòü òàêàÿ âîçìîæíîñòü âåäü 1 $ ýòî íàñòîëüêî ìèçåðíàÿ ñóììà ÷òî ïîïðîáîâàòü ñìîæåò êàæäûé.

Ïðåèìóùåñòâà ïðîåêòà
Ìãíîâåííàÿ ðåãèñòðàöèÿ â ïðîåêòå. Ðåãèñòðàöèÿ çàéìåò ïàðó ìèíóò è ñðàçó ïîñëå ðåãèñòðàöèè Âû íà÷èíàåòå çàðàáàòûâàòü.
Ìû ðàññêàçûâàåì êàê çàðàáîòàòü íà ïåðâûé óðîâåíü, ïîýòîìó âàì íè÷åãî íå íóæíî áóäåò ïëàòèòü èç ñâîåãî êàðìàíà :).
Íàø ïðîåêò ñàì íàõîäèò âàì ðåôôåðàëîâ. ×åëîâåê ïðèøåäøèé íà ñàéò ïðîåêòà, íå ïî ðåô.ññûëêå ó÷àñòíèêà, ñòàíîâèòñÿ ðåôôåðàëîì ó÷àñòíèêà, ó êîòîðîãî íà äàííûé ìîìåíò ìåíüøå âñåãî ðåôôåðàëîâ!
Âñå ðàñ÷åòû ïðîèñõîäÿò íåïîñðåäñòâåííî ìåæäó ó÷àñòíèêàìè (ïðè ïîìîùè ñèñòåìû ýëåêòðîííûõ ïëàòåæåé WebMoney.ru, åñëè Âû åùå íåçíàêîìû ñ ýòîé ñèñòåìîé, ñîâåòóåì âíèìàòåëüíî îçíàêîìèòüñÿ ñ íåé). Çà ñ÷åò ÷åãî ïîëíîñòüþ èñêëþ÷àåòñÿ îáìàí ñî ñòîðîíû àäìèíèñòðàöèè ïðîåêòà.
Ïîñòîÿííûé êîíòðîëü çà ñîáëþäåíèåì ïîðÿäêà àäìèíèñòðàòîðîì, îòçûâ÷èâàÿ ñëóæáà ïîääåðæêè.
Âñå ýòî îòëè÷àåò íàø ïðîåêò îò ìíîæåñòâà äðóãèõ.
Òåõíè÷åñêàÿ ïîääåðæêà ICQ - 370350716

Äëÿ ðåãèñòðàöèè íàæìèòå: Çäåñü

Anonymous [04.30.07 05:30 AM]

This patent is to broad and general. There are other products such as the Lotus learning space that implemented this concept years ago. Generic patents of this type have really gotten out of hand.

Randall Shimizu [04.30.07 05:31 AM]

This patent is to broad and general. There are other products such as the Lotus learning space that implemented this concept years ago. Generic patents of this type have really gotten out of hand.

Randall Shimizu [04.30.07 05:32 AM]

This patent is to broad and general. There are other products such as the Lotus learning space that implemented this concept years ago. Generic patents of this type have really gotten out of hand.

RecyDrync [10.04.07 11:32 PM]