Blackboard, Inc. combats criticism of patents policy

Shahreen Saifi Assistant News Editor

In response to months of criticism that its legal policies were squashing educational software development, Blackboard, Inc. pledged on Feb. 1 that it would not assert patent rights on open-source projects or homegrown software. The company had previously claimed that it had a patent on features common to all course management systems.

Blackboard’s main dispute involved Desire2Learn, a small Canadian company that, according to Blackboard, had infringed on a patent. But the claim upset a number of companies already using the same features. According to Blackboard general counsel Matthew Small, “The pledge covers anything anyone is realistically worried about in the e-learning community.”

Still, despite this latest step, educators and competing companies alike continue to express concern about the company’s practices. The patent release was preceded by weeks of negotiations with Educause, an umbrella organization for technological companies that deals in higher education and remains dissatisfied with Blackboard’s pledge.

According to a statement issued by the Educause Board of Directors, “While this pledge offers a formalization of Blackboard’s claims about the intent of its patent, it does not speak to the quality or validity of the patents themselves.”

This lack of faith has prompted many colleges, including Vassar, to reconsider their commitment to the database. “Once Blackboard swallowed up its main competition, WebCT, they became monopolistic,” said Vice President for Computing and Information Services Bret Ingerman. “They haven’t been as responsive [at addressing complaints] as they were when they still had competition.” When asked whether Blackboard was going to remain in use at Vassar, Ingerman said, “Although the legal case has had no material impacts, we are actively looking for alternatives.”

The Committee on Computing and Educational Technology has formed a sub-committee to look into other possibilities. At the moment the two main options are Sakai and Moodle, both of which are open-source systems.

“Right now Blackboard does not have a great deal of integration with Banner and the other systems,” said Ingerman. “To gain that kind of integration the cost will go up. The time has come to look at whether we want to invest that much in Blackboard.”