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Desire2Learn Fights eLearning Patent
Nordelius writes "Desire2Learn has responded to the patent infringement claim (PDF) cited by Blackboard Inc. regarding eLearning systems. They have argued that Blackboard was negligent in not submitting details of prior art with their patent application, and further alleged that the material described by the patent was documented in 1998 (PDF) by a collaborative international organization, IMSprogram.org, which was actually working with Blackboard at the time."
Hey asshole -- I didn't patent a "wheel". I patented a "rotary device for facilitation of translational motion". That's totally different.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Then perhaps you should have kept reading. The only thing they "admit" is they are, indeed, an Ontario Corporation.
2. Upon information and belief, defendant Desire2Learn ("D2L") is and has been a corporation organized under the laws of Canada, having its principal place of business at 72 Victoria Street South, Suite 401, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2G 4Y9.
ANSWER: Desire2Learn states that it is a corporation organized under the laws of the Province of Ontario with its principal place of business is located at 72 Victoria Street South, Suite 401, Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2G 4Y9. Desire2Learn denies the remaining allegations of this paragraph.
You know the thing about UDP jokes? I don't care if you get it or not.
When will they learn?
...crickets...
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
You must be new here...
Other than having the patent revoked, what is the real penalty to filing a blatantly invalid one?
It would seem that there is no incentive not to file for every idea imaginable, if the repercussions are non existent or minimal.
With the flood of patent applications coming in from everyone, patentability checking is a thing of the past. Here is a brief description of some such patents. There are patents on obvious ideas, non-trivial ideas, previously-implemented ideas, etc.
You don't have to prove much of anything to get a patent.
"The use-mention distinction" is not "enforced here."
Heh... kinda like the fortune cookie "...in bed" thing makes everything funny right?
Try using BlackBoard as an instructor. The layout is cluttered and terrible, and some key functionality is buried. Tech-saavy instructors don't have a problem with probing and clicking until they find the right control, but this is used by all sorts of people, many of whom may already have difficulties with seemingly basic online navigation. My issue with the BlackBoard patent is that this is a bloated system which could use improvement (and the ideas are definitely being improved upon, just look at Moodle and Sakai), but if they're going to chase down anyone who's improvements are too effective, then we're stuck with 1999 technology and a "figure it out yourself" approach to human-computer interaction. Moodle and Sakai certainly don't have the resources to combat a lawsuit, so more power to Desire2Learn, whatever power they might have. As for your "humorous" experience, an online course requires more planning from instructors than an in-person course. When that effort isn't put forth, it's often obvious. Additionally, there can be more required of students, as they may need to go to extra efforts to make forum postings or focus on the format of assignments. I'm not assuming that you're blaming the medium, but I hope that others reading your impressions don't come away with that notion. I have taken many online courses which were far more immersive and robust than most of the in-person courses I've had. -Jim
They have argued that Blackboard was negligent in not submitting details of prior art with their patent application
Negligence won't cut it. On the other hand, it appears that they have extensively argued that Blackboard fraudulently withheld prior art during prosecution.
That doesn't mean it will go anywhere. Allegations of inequitable conduct are fairly common by defendants. It's very hard to prove an intent to deceive, though.
To higher ed faculty who are unaware, Available is a modern day web-app, alternative to BB, et al.
``It is a sad thought, but the patent application process should make it difficult for so-called "patent hunters" (people who search for unpatented products in order that they might try to patent in order to receieve exclusive rights to make, use, sell, offer to sell, or import an invention).''
Actually, that sort of behavior would indicate that the system is working. After all, people are inventing things to strike up the bounty that a patent offers them. That's exactly what the patent system aims to do.
``The process requires the "inventor" to provide a description of the product in enough detail to allow another individual skilled in the art to create the patented object...this is difficult to do for someone who isn't exceptionally skilled in the given area.''
That depends very much on the area. Some of the ideas that people have patented in the area of websites could have been invented by anyone who had ever used a website. Patents for methods for producing chemicals are often only obtained after years of experimenting.
``A patent, however, isn't necessarily a complete monopoly...yes, patents give the original inventor the right to keep others from making/selling/using the original invention, but others can still file "improvement" patents to better the original product, granting them the right to make/use/sell/blahblahblah the improved version of the product.''
Yes, you're right, and this seems to work very well in the chemical industry.
``Additionally patents on a product last either 20 years (for utility and plant patents), or 14 years (for design patents). Very rarely does an invention stay valid for this long, with no necessary improvements.''
But the flip side to that is that many inventions have become effectively useless by the time the patent expires.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
I was an intern at Desire2Learn and I know the whole dev, qa team and I still talk a few on msn. So I'm particularly outraged at this patent. It makes no sense and the claims that they make that they're just looking for getting some payment for what they've pioneered is just a flat-out lie. Btw Blackboard software is s*** in comparison anyways.
If you think BlackBoard is bad, you should see CLEGA! CLEGA makes Black Board look like a golden app.
.05 or so. I aced all of the homework (preset labs from the book that were graded for completion, not quality), I commented in all of the discussions (the post's date stamps were used in an automated system that gave us grades based on when we posted, not what we posted), and put together a top notch final project (a vector based logo for an ACME fish company). Then came the final paper. I wrote a paper so bad it was painful. I cited Fark as my primary source and didn't include the reference list. I used lewd and inappropriate images as subject matter for the paper. Had I turned that paper into any campus instructor, their either would have given it back to me, or given me a failing grade. The score came back from my online instructor as a 70%. That specific class was one of the worst experiences I have had in online classes. But my best experiences aren't a whole lot better.
My apologies If I have offended any online instructors as well. Although, there are a good number of online instructors who aught to to be offended. I went to a private college (thank you GI Bill!!!), my freshman courses had maybe 30-40 students, we graduated the Assoc degree with 7. Two cohorts combined for the bach degree and we graduated 8. Another cohort jumped in and we graduated the 2nd bach degree with 5. So, having the experience of classes with huge amount of student-teacher time (classes were block scheduled 3-5 hours at a time, twice per week for 8 weeks each) was a great learning environment. Some classes (non-lab classes) I took online to save myself an hour of commuting to school twice a week.
From what I saw online, most of my teachers had 6+ classes with 20-40 students in each class. Many teachers depended on automated tools to check that you posted and graded papers purely on MS Office's grammar and spell checker. With the huge student - teacher ratio (1 teacher for 240 students!!) independent help was a joke, there was little educational interaction with the instructors, and all round the education was purely limited to what you were willing to teach yourself.
Now, I'm no lazy bastard, I worked my ass off in those online classes just as I did in my campus classes. But the fact remains that I could turn in a paper that I knew my campus instructors would fail me for, knowing that it would get a C in the online classes. My very last class online was of such poor quality that I decided to do just that. My GPA was pretty much locked at 3.85, as long as I didn't fail the course it wouldn't change more than
There are some teachers out there that I think can use the web as a teaching Aid. I had one campus instructor who was picking up a mixed class (online assignments, on campus labs, lectures on both). He was a meticilous man with a history in IT management and a solid grasp of his subject matter. I would be very interested to see how his online work turns out.
In short, I find the teacher-student interaction online to be limited, the expectations to be lower, and the completion to be easier in online classes. With a few gems of teachers scattered about.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
Online learning provider Blackboard, Inc. announced that it has patented the Learning Management System (LMS). Prior art exists in many forms. Please join us in signing the petition below to boycott Blackboard, Inc. for fabricating this ill-conceived and illegitimate patent against the education industry. We fully support those companies that are rightfully fighting this attack on the education industry. Boycott Blackboard Petition