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Blackboard Patent Invalidated By Appellate Court

Posted by timothy on from the mechanism-for-doing-stuff-described-herein dept.

Arguendo writes "A federal appeals court ruled Monday that Blackboard Inc.'s patent on a learning management system is invalid in light of the inventors' own prior software product. We have previously discussed the patent and Blackboard's trial court victory against Desire2Learn. It's not completely over, but this is almost certainly the death knell for Blackboard's patent. If so inclined, you may read the appellate court's decision here (PDF) or on scribd."

12 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Blackboard execs should all be killed by realmolo · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Along with the patent examiners, of course.

    If you look at the patents that Blackboard has, they basically make it *impossible* to have any kind of "intranet" site at an educational institution. Everything (almost literally everything) that you would want to have/do on a school's intranet, Blackboard has a patent for.

    It's fucking ridiculous, and if their patents are invalidated, everyone in the education industry will RUN AWAY from their product, which sucks.

    1. Re:Blackboard execs should all be killed by Admodieus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I want to run away from their product even if the patents are not invalidated. They're all pieces of crap that rely heavily on Java applets and fail to support updates for browsers when they come out, like Firefox 3.5, Safari 4, etc. I remember two years ago, there was a period of time where they told users not to upgrade to Firefox 2 or IE7 because they didn't have support lined up for them yet.

      --
      "It's a reverse vampire...they....they crave the sun!"
    2. Re:Blackboard execs should all be killed by edremy · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Everybody already is running away. Check out the market share numbers- BB is on a serious decline, with most small schools like the one I work for ditching them for almost anything else.

      Sadly, we went for Angel, which has been bought out by BB so we need to do another switch. BB will be among the possible options we'll be putting out there for the committee, but given our previous miserable experience with them I'll be amazed if we pick it over either Moodle or Sakai.

      --
      "Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
    3. Re:Blackboard execs should all be killed by amicusNYCL · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh yeah: we're also a small company that has no affiliation at all to Blackboard.

      --
      "Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
  2. Hurry!!! by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Funny

    Quick, post your comments on slashdot before Blackboard patents a method for providing an interface that allows snarky and/or sarcastic comments to forum posts!!!

  3. Re:slashdot anti-capitalists by Just+Some+Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sorry that you guys don't like it, but it's OK for people to want to make money off their ideas.

    As a capitalist, I wholeheartedly agree. As a citizen, I disagree with the government's grant of exclusive rights on something as nebulous as a software algorithm (as opposed to a specific implementation of that algorithm). Make money off your ideas all you want. I do! Just don't expect to make money of the sole act of having thought them.

    --
    Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
  4. Re:slashdot anti-capitalists by Broken+scope · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Patents should protect your exclusive right to produce a device/product/whateverthefucktheyareactuallysupposedtoprotect, not protect your "right" to an entire market.

    --
    You mad
  5. Re:slashdot anti-capitalists by Timothy+Brownawell · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time there's a patent article on slashdot, the summary and comments all just ooze with thinly-veiled contempt for our free market system.

    In what way are government-granted monopolies considered a "free market"? It seems kinda like the opposite.

    it's OK for people to want to make money off their ideas.

    An if you're actually competent, you can do that without crippling all your potential competitors and causing net harm to the economy.

  6. Good call by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Somebody tried to patent the blackboard?

    Now THERE's a stretch...

  7. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  8. Scribd? Gee, thanks. by CarpetShark · · Score: 4, Funny

    you may read the appellate court's decision here (PDF) or on scribd.

    Or if scribd is insufficiently annoying, we can print it out with an old 40 chars-per-line dot matrix, onto toasted wholemeal bread. We can then supply a strong lamp, a pen, and some blank bread for use as notepaper whilst you attempt to decipher it.

  9. Case Study: CUNY 2009 by dcollins · · Score: 4, Informative

    Consider this headline: "Blackboard Breakdown: CUNY in a 'Very Difficult Box to Get Out of' After Online Centralization Plan Backfires". (CUNY, City University of New York, third-largest university system in the US, 21 campuses).

    "Blackboard 8 had never been used at a university close to the size of CUNY, where it has 130,000 users including 8,000 faculty members. When the semester started, Blackboard buckled under the load, which peaked at 35,000 users every three hours during peak activity. Sporadic Blackboard service during the first weeks of the semester meant many students could not submit their assignments, take quizzes or stay in contact with their instructors."

    http://www.indypendent.org/2009/06/12/blackboard_breakdown/

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes