Press release from D2L.
This seems like good news for all of us (except Blackboard).
As I understand it the current situation is this:
1) The recent jury trial upheld PARTS of the patent.
2) The (completely separate) Patent Office reexamination has rejected ALL of the patent.
Both of these decisions can be appealed, and probably will be.
Thanks for the update! I follow this with great interest.
atw
atw
Fantastic!
The trial jury said that as long as the patent was valid they thought that D2L infringed it. The authority on that validity is USPTO, which is in the process of rejecting the patent in full.
Hopefully the comments process will be quick, and the rejection of all the claims stays. I am sure Eben Moglen will ensure the claims stay rejected
Once it is rejected... I wonder whether D2L gets any of its money back a good chunk of money paid in the penalties the court ordered, and probably even more in lawyering. And whether D2L and the elearning community get any apologies from BB.
Hold that thought... wouldn't it be nice for a change?
While I am glad the BB patent claim is being thrown out, it is still disturbing that software patents as a whole are not yet being thrown out. Many of us on these Moodle forums have said before that patents on process, on ideas, on concepts, on function, and on purpose have no basis. These are public--always have been and always will be. They do not belong to any one person, any one organisation or corporation.
I hate to say this, but one of the "benefits" of the Iraq War (if you can call any side effect of war a benefit) is the acceleration internationally of the move to open source software. As reported by Blankenhorn, many countries are rejecting the "IP tax" claimed by USA companies and are swiftly adopting Linux, OpenOffice and other open source projects.
I hate to say this, but one of the "benefits" of the Iraq War (if you can call any side effect of war a benefit) is the acceleration internationally of the move to open source software. As reported by Blankenhorn, many countries are rejecting the "IP tax" claimed by USA companies and are swiftly adopting Linux, OpenOffice and other open source projects.
Open Source is a good idea for certain other countries because at any time the US could put its stupid sanctions on a country and forbid American software companies from doing business in those countries. If governments or companies in those countries depend on commercial American software, it would be a disaster because they would no longer be able to get support or upgrades that they need.
In a similar way, the acquisition of WebCT by Blackboard has highlighted business continuity considerations that favour Moodle:
Patent claims by Blackboard also raised business continuity concerns:
By sueing Desire2Learn and by appealing the Patent Office ruling, Blackboard signal that we may need to resort to costly litigation to enforce (our interpretation of) terms of our relationship with them. This is a serious concern because their licence terms are restrictive, and our data will be locked up in a proprietary format. However, they seem deeply committed to this business model.
These concerns are worth much more money than the licence fees.
Russell
| Moodle | Blackboard |
| We have the source code already, and hundreds of organisations independent of Moodle.org have a programmer with some familiarity with it at that level. The schema is already visible and the database engine is reliable, cheap, and widely used. Moodle.org encourages independent support and customisation, even on a commercial basis. The GPL licence irrevocably assures us of the right to use and modify the software for as long as we like. |
There is no way to legally get the source code, even if the company collapses. There is no-one outside the company who can address any future problem with the code. We have no right to know how to rectify corrupted or inconsistent data, should it be necessary. If Blackboard goes into liquidation, there may be no way to resolve any existing or future technical issues. The licence may terminate, necessitating a rapid exit. |
Patent claims by Blackboard also raised business continuity concerns:
| Moodle continues to gain new innovations contributed by users. The GPL explicitly authorises modification. The product attracts improvements, extensions and integration with other systems. Moodle gains if we develop a customisation and share it with other sites. |
Blackboard's patent claims relate to the past adoption of methods that have become passé. Blackboard gain commercially if they reduce our choice of vendor and product, but this is to our disadvantage. Blackboard's claims may preclude us from developing extensions for local purposes that they decline to address. |
By sueing Desire2Learn and by appealing the Patent Office ruling, Blackboard signal that we may need to resort to costly litigation to enforce (our interpretation of) terms of our relationship with them. This is a serious concern because their licence terms are restrictive, and our data will be locked up in a proprietary format. However, they seem deeply committed to this business model.
These concerns are worth much more money than the licence fees.
Russell
I thought this post was also interesting:
http://mfeldstein.com/bad-news-for-blackboard-good-news-for-moodle/
Maybe it is off topic, but seems related to me. . .
atw
http://mfeldstein.com/bad-news-for-blackboard-good-news-for-moodle/
Maybe it is off topic, but seems related to me. . .
atw