Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Blackboard files lawsuit against D2L in Canada



Blackboard followed through on its statement to The Chronicle and filed a patent infringement lawsuit on April 24 against Desire2Learn through the Ottawa office of Canada's Federal Court (see court records T-655-09).

To summarize, here are the active proceedings in this complicated story listed in chronological order:

- Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn (US Federal Court)
- US Patent Office review of Blackboard's "'138" patent
- Blackboard vs. US Patent Office (US Federal Court)
- Blackboard complaint aginst Desire2Learn to US International Trade Commission
- Blackboard vs. Desire2Learn (Canada Federal Court)

Keep up if you can.

UPDATE:
As in the U.S., Blackboard has been awarded a number of educational technology-related patents in Canada. The above lawsuit is based on Canadian patent 2378200. Here's the entire list.

I wonder if Blackboard will now be applying for patents in whatever country is producing learning technology products.

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