March 2008 — News

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On Heels of Injunction, Desire2Learn Releases New LMS, Repository, ePortfolio

by Dave Nagel

[Editor's note: Please see our related article, "Desire2Learn CEO Makes Case Against Blackboard Patent, Court Ruling." --D.N.]

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Blackboard's Patent Controversy

Although Blackboard pledged in February 2007 that it would not assert its patent rights against developers of open-source learning management systems, the existence of the patent and the lawsuit against rival commercial developer Desire2Learn have left many uneasy. Both Desire2Learn and the open-source advocacy group the Software Freedom Law Center have filed for the USPTO to reexamine the validity of the patent. Both requests have been granted. The reexaminations have not yet concluded.

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--D. Nagel

Desire2Learn has released new versions of its Learning Environment and Learning Repository software, as well as its new ePortfolio product. The announcement comes on the heels of two legal setbacks in Desire2Learn's patent infringement case with Blackboard.

The Desire2Learn Learning Environment 8.3 release is a direct result of a March 10 injunction against the company from selling version 8.2.2 or earlier in the United States, which followed the loss in February 2008 in the patent infringement case Blackboard brought against D2L back in 2006. Although it follows the injunction by just a few days, the company said version 8.3 has been in the works for the last year, redesigned to remove elements that might infringe on Blackboard's patent (the validity of which is still being reexamined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office) and also enhanced with new features.