Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology
Press Release, Blackboard, August 1, 2006.

Disclosure: I work with NRC IIT and am involved with the Synergic3 project described in this press release from Desire2Learn. I also support and have advcocated open source learning management systems.

As I commented earlier today, it was like poking a stick into an anthill. The Blackboard patent and subsequent action has prompted a furious reaction, one they must have anticipated (which is probably at least part of the reason for waiting from January 17, when the patent was issued, to July 26, to make the announcement).

"In addition, patents corresponding with the U.S. patent have been issued in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and are pending in the European Union, China, Japan, Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Hong Kong and Brazil."

To say that the reaction was negative would be to understate the matter considerably. Donald Clark writes, "I'd start selling Blackboard stock NOW!" Leonard Low writes, "Blackboard's claim of patent is both outrageous and repugnant." Dave Cormier writes, "In the span of a couple of weeks the educational landscape we've all come to know and care about has taken an awful beating. It seems that DOPA is taking away our open ed-web and blackweb is taking away our walled gardens." John P. Mayer writes, "How can you access the 'full power of the Internet' [as Blackboard says] if you are dealing with litigation fears and limitations of choice as a result?" Wesley Fryer exclaims "Crazy!" and asks, "Were the people in the US Patent Office really thinking clearly when they have this supposed 'patent' to Blackboard?"

In an item titled "Life among the clueless: the Blackboard patent" (best title of the day, by the way), Jay Cross ponders, "Maybe it was too big a nightmare for SumTotal, Saba, Plateau, and their brethren to think about. I imagine they are all in line for extortion, a la Blackberry."

Further, it was reported on my website, and also at the Inquirer that Blackboard has filed suit against Canadian company Desire2Learn over the patent (text of the filing document here). The Enquirer states, "the firm's [Blackboard's] CEO Michael Chasen said his firm has been a 'thought leader' in the e-learning industry." I, for one, beg to differ. Blackboard has resisted innovation for as long as I have known the company; I remember at a conference once trying to convince Greg Ritter that the company should use RSS feed, and now I expect Blackboard to claim to have invented them.

In an widely distributed email during the D2L Users Conference Desire2Learn head John Baker wrote, "We are disappointed that Blackboard turned to the court system before discussing its claims with us. We intend to defend the action vigorously, but because we just received notice two business days ago, we are unable to comment further at this time." The letter does not yet appear on the D2L website. Baker, reports Alberta Essa, was "visibly shaken", and Blackboard "truly evil."

As stated on the Academic Commons website, the move has raised concerns that action may also be taken against open source projects Moodle and Sakai. As Alfred Essa observes, "By filing a patent infringement lawsuit against Desire2Learn Blackboard has at the same time fired a shot across the bow of open source projects such as Moodle, Sakai, and .LRN, which are slowly emerging as disruptive innovations in the elearning space. In the long run Blackboard knows it can't win on product quality or innovation. Therefore, it will exploit patents as its WMD."

And he adds, in my view correctly, "What is Blackboard's diabolical strategy to crush open source? I don't believe they will directly go after the open source projects. They don't need to. Blackboard just needs to create enough FUD among lawyers, whose entire frame of reference is built around litigation avoidance, so that new institutions interested in adopting an open source solution just won't go there."

"I'm not worried," writes Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas on a Moodle forum (stupid login required). "I'm not worried as I think there is plenty of prior art." The open source communiy has already started fighting back. A Wikipedia article on the history of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) development has been started, essentially the same as the page at Moodle.

Martin Langhoff writes on a Moodle forum (stupid login required, sorry), "After a quick check on the ATutor forums, and seeing there was no discussion about the patents, I've gotten in touch with Greg Gay -- he says: "If you are looking for evidence of LMS type apps prior to 1999, here's a study we did early that year. We'll be in contact with the patent office in Canada, to make sure no patent is issued here. We're onboard on this too." and I think that study is good stuff and having them on board is great.

Some more prior art has been posted at Seb Schmoller's site about a Learning to Teach Online Course he and others developed in 1997 or 1998.

Some people see the positive in the move. Alex Reid ponders, "Perhaps Blackboard's patent is the evil impetus to move us away from a "course-based system" of 'online courses:' the bad idea that they want to claim as their fundamental intellectual property." As Scott Wilson suggests, "I hope we can use this as an opportunity...perhaps Tony Karrer is correct and that we are at the point of technology disruption, and we'll see the LMS displaced by simpler technologies with different non-functional characteristics (following the typical technology pattern)."

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Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 1, 2006

Stupid logins are not required on moodle.org. If you get asked to login, just hit the "login as guest" button. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

Hi Stephen! Good entries today on the BB patent. Let's make sure the call is heard for people to collaborate in building up the prior art database. Right now the moodle thread and the wiki pages have good links, but we need people to flesh them out. {I have to say, this seems to be part of a "classic" exit strategy in the software industry.} ~ martin langhoff [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

So, are we angry that Blackboard was audacious (read: savvy) enough to have thought of the very legal LMS patent route before anyone else, or are we angry at the Patent Office for doing their job? Or maybe it's because the decision adversely impacts competitors while protecting intellectual property rights of those who received the patent? Or maybe we just don't like big corporations with deep pockets in a Must Stop Microsoft sort of way? Really, where is the injustice? Blackboard/WebCT got there first, being 'Thought Leaders'. All the other 'Sofa Thinkers' sound pouty. New 'Thought Leaders' will quietly move into the realm of innovation with patent-dodging ideas which will drive LMS technology further down the road. And then we all benefit. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

Blackboard/WebCT got there first Except that they didn't. Other than that, great point! [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

:) By "got there first", I refer to the fact that they filed first, or at least were awarded the patent first. In the eyes of the patent office, its irrelevant who had the idea first. Patent Law 101. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

eCollege was in the eLearning biz before Bb and will likely have something to say about this hogwash. It is a simple case of the Patent Office not doing their homework. It does add a risk premium to the decision school's have to make on whether to use another system or not. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Paul Jacobelli, August 2, 2006

They seem to forget that eCollege was in the eLearning biz before Bb. Interesting that they are not named in any of the articles. perhaps the patents will only affect newer eLearning players. Nevertheless, I am sure ECLG will have something to say about this ridiculous claim. D2L is a good company and has strong support. I am sure they will be able to use that to have this suit thrown out. Shame about having to waste dollars to do this... which could be invested in further innovation. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

Shame indeed. I can't help but think about the wasted intellectual energy and enormous dollars that will now be spent by so many organizations on lawsuits. . . . dollars that could be spent on innovative developments. My take on it is that Blackboard, like so many before, became comfortable leading the wave and forgot (or neglected) to pay attention to growth and development -- in order to stay on top of the wave. At some point they found themselves in the undertow and made a pivotal decision to opt for the patent/legal route. How will this lawsuit do anything for e-learning as an enterprise? Sure, we'll get innovation -- I hope from those incredible souls in open source who are able to stay out of the fray and ask themselves a few really powerful questions leading them to new thinking and innovation -- while the others are side-tracked in legal squabbles? What is the take-away lesson in all this for the rest of us? LaDonna Coy Distance Learning & Prevention Consultant coyenator@gmail.com [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

In the eyes of the patent office, its irrelevant who had the idea first. Patent Law 101. You might want to review Patent Law 101 again. First date of filing only applies when there are rival filers, which there aren't in this case. You're not supposed to be able to patent things that are in the prior art, which most of this stuff clearly is. I suspect you are just trolling. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 2, 2006

Wikipedia has responded with a VLE prior art page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 3, 2006

I think some of you are forgetting that WebCT was in the e-learning game well before eCollege (formerly RealEducation) came along. RealEducation was founded in 1996, two years after WebCT's first development in this arena. And now that Blackboard and WebCT are one legal entity, Blackboard Inc. now can legally claim to have begun building and investing in their current e-learning systems dating to 1994, when Murray Goldberg began building WebCT at the University of British Columbia. Despite all the claims of "prior art," I'll bet the patent office has drawn a line of demarcation that separates the virtual efforts of the past from those that were developed specifically as web applications. The graphical web's inception dates to 1993, I believe, and Murray Goldberg was building his e-learning software soon thereafter. Is it such a stretch to believe he has a claim as the original inventor of web-based course management software? Full disclosure: I am a former employee of Blackboard. Despite that, I'm evaluating this lawsuit with a critical eye. No one wants to see innovation stifled, and if this lawsuit unduly leads in that direction, I can't support it. I am definitely uncomfortable with this attack on Desire2Learn. That said, I don't know much about D2L, how it developed its intellectual property, and I don't think many of the folks commenting here know much either. I for one am content to let the facts emerge before I light a torch and take to the streets in protest. I admire open-source software and its advocates, and I hope open source continues to thrive. That said, I think the education market is massive enough to allow for the co-existence of Blackboard, Sakai, Moodle and others. I think all the hand-wringing and "evil empire" talk is a bit premature. There isn't enough hard information available to make an assessment of the merits of this lawsuit. For all I know, D2L simply copied the basic interface and functionality of Blackboard/WebCT and never invested their own sweat and dollars. I'm no patent lawyer, and I don't pretend to know much about how the system works, but I do think a fair system should protect those who break trail, make financial investments, and pour thousands of hours of development time into creating their products. Those companies SHOULD profit more than those who arrive late to the party, copy established products, and then try to carve out market share on the cheap. (For the record, I was personally helping Blackboard develop web-based course management software before D2L was even a gleam in John Baker's eye. Blackboard may be playing hardball, but Blackboard is nearly 10 years old, and WebCT nearly 12 years old. The combined company, which required hundreds of millions in venture capital dollars to reach this point, certainly has an arguable claim as the inventors of web-based course management as we know it.) Again, I know very little about D2L. I've never seen its interface or functionality. So I'm speaking entirely theoretically. I do hope cooler heads will prevail. Let's wait for more information before we scramble to the worst possible conclusions. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 3, 2006

For all those del.icio.us users out there, may I suggest the tag; " vle/prior-art " followed by " 19** " for any relevant material. Perhaps someone has a repository where unpublished relevant material might be published and exposed. A. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 5, 2006

I will be interested to see clear documentation of just how many hundreds of millions of research dollars Blackboard spent on developing what appear to us now to be some rather simple concepts clained in the patent, such as roles. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 7, 2006

WebCT before eCollege (Real Education)... While it's true that WebCT started providing supplemental learning opportunities prior to eCollege, they were not the first to offer fully-online distance education. That race was won by eCollege in this particular grouping. (There may have been other small outfits at the time, but not many - if any - are still around.) While I have no particular affinity for either platform, the truth will help this discussion move along. WebCT started (and to many still is) only a supplemental learning device. I realize some people try to use it for fully distance education, but when you talk to someone who uses a platform designed for that activity, you realize you're talking apples and oranges. WebCT started as a ladder where eCollege started as an elevator. There was a difference then and there will still be a difference (in terms of technology) today. The Patent office may have some explaining to do. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, August 9, 2006

It seems to me that the overarching issue is that this patent seems to be a "business use" patent, not on any specific technology. As such it is onerously restrictive and supports claims that just are not true. Academia and the business world have used networked delivery systems for "education" and "educational components" for quite some time. Having been to a few ASTD meetings in my time corporate training was involved in this game from the mid 90s on, perhaps even sooner. So the issue seems to be that Blackboard is making these overarching claims on ownership of the process not the technology. That is where all the prior art proofs should ultimately prove to be Blackboard's downfall. Regardless, I cannot imagine any potential LMS buyer would be happy with BBs claim. Narrowing the field of competition is never good for the consumer. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Blackboard Awarded Patent on e-Learning Technology

Anymouse, September 13, 2006

Where can we take a look at the patent itself ? [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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