"Prior Art" Could Eliminate Blackboard's Patent on eLearning Software
The lawsuit Blackboard filed against Desire2Learn for patent infringement could be water under the bridge. Recently,
"The Software Freedom Law Center, an advocacy group for open-source software, asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this month to re-examine the patent(on behalf of Sakai, Moodle and ATutor). This is the first formal challenge against the patent's legitimacy filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office."
This according to a recent article by Dan Carnevale of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Chronicle subscribers can read the full article - The Chronicle: Daily news: 12/01/2006 -- 01: Blackboard Patent on Classroom Software Faces Formal Challenge From Open-Source Advocates.
More information on the patent:
* from Desire2Learn's perspective - http://www.desire2learn.com/patentinfo/.
* from Blackboard's perspective - http://www.blackboard.com/patent/