This Campus Technology interview with Desire2Learn's president and general counsel provides a useful perspective on Blackboard's patent infringement claims. ____JH
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"In a field in which intellectual property is contributed freely by so many, Blackboard's patent covering certain LMS technologies seemed to some to be out of place, and it was greeted with anger and distress by many in education and in the education development community."
"So we tried to talk about prior art that met the definition, the claim construction the court uses to define [elements of] the patent. And Blackboard fought against us by using words that weren't in the patent and weren't in the claim construction. They were almost creating smoke and mirrors around the actual, real heart of the matter. We were trying to define what's in the patent; they were trying to do everything they could to avoid using the words that were in the patent to make it abundantly difficult for a jury to, in my opinion, make the right decision."
"We have to--we have to--win here. Otherwise it puts all of our other competitors in jeopardy. If we lose, Blackboard's patent becomes stronger. Their stated intent [is] to go after others. That's why they were seeking the injunction ... to allow them to go after others and seek royalties or injunctions against them. And we don't want to let that happen."
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