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Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives
,----[ Quote ]
| Blackboard has become the Microsoft of higher-education technology, say many
| campus-technology officials, and they don't mean the comparison as a
| compliment. To them the company is not only big but also pushy, and many of
| them love to hate it.
|
| [...]
|
| LeTourneau's contract with Blackboard ends this year, and campus officials
| may join the growing number of colleges switching to Moodle, a free,
| open-source course-management system, or Sakai, another free program. Those
| systems have grown feature-rich enough to pose serious challenges to
| Blackboard. Giants like the Georgia Institute of Technology and the
| University of California at Los Angeles, along with smaller colleges, like
| Louisiana State University at Shreveport, have made the jump.
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http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i03/03a00103.htm
It's not only evil like Microsoft. It's also /funded/ by Microsoft.
Recent:
Patent Office Will Continue Reexamination of Blackboard's Controversial Patent
,----[ Quote ]
| The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a request by Blackboard
| Inc. for a temporary halt in the office’s review of a software patent the
| company holds concerning course-management systems.
|
| This year Blackboard won a lawsuit in federal court against a rival software
| company, Desire2Learn, for violating the patent, though Desire2Learn has
| appealed the decision. Meanwhile, Desire2Learn had formally challenged the
| validity of the patent with the patent office, arguing that it is overly
| broad and covers technology that other companies had developed before
| Blackboard filed its patent. The patent office issued an initial verdict in
| March that rejected all 44 of the claims that make up Blackboard’s patent.
| But that review is “nonfinal,” meaning that the review is still underway.
`----
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3276/patent-office-will-continue-reexamination-of-blackboards-controversial-patent
Related:
All 44 Blackboard Patent Claims Invalidated by USPTO
,----[ Quote ]
| This decision actually should have come before the trial verdict but was held
| up because the USPTO had to decide what to do about the separate filings from
| D2L and SFLC. Now, in addition to the fact that Blackboard will be able to
| argue against the ruling with the USPTO, there are a number of questions
| regarding how this affects the court case.
`----
http://mfeldstein.com/all-44-blackboard-patent-claims-invalidated-by-uspto/
The Blackboard Patent and Blackboard's Big Idea
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| Now that the Blackboard Patent Court Case has begun, let's recap the main
| issues. Blackboard sued Desire2Learn for patent infringement. What is the
| patent claim and what is at stake?
`----
http://tatler.typepad.com/nose/2008/02/what-did-blackb.html
Blackboard Inc. Is Awarded Payment From Competitor in Patent Case
,----[ Quote
| "This is a signal event in educational technology," said Alfred H. Essa,
| associate vice chancellor and deputy chief information officer for Minnesota
| State Colleges and Universities. "It means that the big boys are playing for
| keeps and will use their patent portfolio at any cost to crush and deter new
| entrants. As a community, it will take us a long time to recover from this
| mess."
`----
http://chronicle.com/free/2008/02/1828n.htm
Taurus/Orion/Spangenberg Hold Off Ford in Madison; Blackboard-Desire2Learn
Trial Begins in Lufkin
,----[ Quote ]
| Interestingly, Desire2Learn is blogging about the trial. Desire2Learn has
| already invalidated 35 out of the 44 claims of the '138 patent. I love how
| Desire2Learn refers to the inventors in quotes - "inventors." From
| Desire2Learn's blog, we learn that the Software Freedom Law Center filed an
| ex parte reexamination request, and Desire2Learn filed an inter partes
| reexamination request. Both were granted, and are continuing in parallel to
| the trial. We also learn that Judge Clark did not rule on any pending summary
| judgment motions, and decided to hold them for trial.
`----
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2008/02/taurusorionspangenberg-hold-off-ford.html
Blackboard Patent Goes to Trial
,----[ Quote ]
| The Blackboard patent infringement case against Desire2Learn goes to trial on
| February 11, 2008 in Lufkin, Texas. The trial is expected to last two weeks.
| Both sides will have no more than 18 hours to present their case.
|
| [...]
|
| By all accounts Blackboard's patent is a stupid one and never should have
| been issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
`----
http://tatler.typepad.com/nose/2008/02/blackboard-pate.html
Blackboard Problems Leave Vista on Double-Secret Probation
,----[ Quote ]
| On college campuses, Microsoft's Vista operating system may be in
| danger of failing courses that use Blackboard, a key software
| program for communication between teachers and students.
`----
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2109454,00.asp
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