T-shirt from The rSmart Group
In spite of everyone’s incredulity, the BB patent monster suit against D2L took hold, at least for now. This past Friday a Texas federal jury ruled in favor of Blackboard and awarded them $3 million in damages.
Jared M. Stein in his Flexknowlogy blog says it as well as anyone:
“Does this apparent magnanimity bolster my favor for Blackboard? Certainly not; the position is superficial at best, and Blackboard knows it. Anyway, it’s beside the point: though I personally lean towards open source software for educational technology, I am (a believer of) free market competition and consumer-driven innovation of services and products is important to me. Blackboard’s overblown patent claims are an affront to innovation and competition, taking advantage of systemic failures in U.S. Patent regulations.”
Ditto, and thank you Jared.
John Baker, Desire2Learn president and CEO, quickly prepared a statement and issued it to all of its clients, of which we are one: ”We will work with you to ensure there are no future issues. We are financially sound and are confident of our ability to work through this matter. With your support and that of the entire educational community, we were able to present a strong case. While we are disappointed that the jury did not agree with our position, we will continue to challenge the patent’s validity and Blackboard’s charges of infringement. We are currently evaluating our next steps.”
