Month: February 2008

Blackboard Wins Lawsuit Against Desire2Learn

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A tool we all use here at Suffolk is BlackBoard. It provides great communication between professors and students outside the classroom. This article explains a recent lawsuit in which BlackBoard won against Desire2Learn. The article raises a good question of whether or not educational tools should be for profit companies?

Blackboard Wins Lawsuit Against Desire2Learn

2/22/2008

By Dian Schaffhauser

Blackboard has prevailed in an e-learning patent dispute against Desire2Learn. A federal jury in Lufkin, TX made the determination Friday afternoon, following a two-week trial. Blackboard was seeking $17 million in lost revenue, as well as an injunction against the company, which is based in Canada.

After a day of deliberation, the jury found the patent valid but suggested that Blackboard should be awarded only $3 million, according to coverage posted on Desire2Learn’s Web site.

During the trial, Blackboard called as an expert witness, Mark Jones, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech, earlier retained by the company to prove the specifications of its patent and dissect the counter-claims by Desire2Learn.

Desire2Learn called as an expert witness Fred Hofstetter, a member of the faculty at the University of Delaware. Hofstetter created Serf, a Web-based distance education environment first introduced in 1997, prior to Blackboard’s introduction of its own virtual learning system.

Following the judgment, Desire2Learn quickly moved to reassure its customers that business would continue as usual. “There is no immediate threat to you our clients,” wrote John Baker, Desire2Learn president and CEO, in the prepared statement. “We will work with you to ensure there are no future issues. We are financially sound and are confident of our ability to work through this matter.”

The company said it would continue to challenge the patent’s validity and Blackboard’s charges of infringement. The United States Patent and Trademark office will be reviewing the patent.
Dian Schaffhauser covers high tech, business and higher education for a number of publications. Contact her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.

Dian Schaffhauser, “Blackboard Wins Lawsuit Against Desire2Learn,” Campus Technology, 2/22/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=5879

What is Web 2.0?

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The internet has evolved into something more than many of us could ever predict. Information is instantly retrievable and knowledge has become limitless. One of the emerging ideas that has gained a lot momentum is user-end interaction with websites. Web developments like MySpace and Facebook are a few examples of how the internet community can come together to form something bigger than a team of web developers could ever produce on their own.

And simply put, that community production is what web 2.0 is all about. Web 2.0 was first coined by Tim O’Reilly at the 2004 Web 2.0 conference (1) as a defining phrase for the second generation of the internet, a collaboration of the many ideas of users all over the world and their contributing efforts to wikis, blogs, social networks and folksonomies.

Many businesses lately have been evolving into 2.0 standards. A company that I have grow and develop is Revision3. Revision3 is a completely web based television studio aimed at developing web shows that are on demand, high quality and professional. Their aim is to revolutionize how companies can broadcast series and shows on other mediums rather television. Despite Revision3 shows being only shown online, companies such as Netflix, Microsoft. Sony and GoDaddy.com have been paying up to $10,000 an episode for advertisement (2).

Revision3 is a great example of how to utilize the broadband speeds of the internet along with user requested content to provide viewers with a tv like viewing experience that they cannot receive from their television provider.

Question to readers:

Do you feel that the internet is developing in a productive way? Are applications such as facebook or online video services like Revision3 necessary tools that help develop connectivity between people? Are these new developments a response to our lack of satisfaction with the previous generation of the internet?

(1) http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

(2) http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0702/gallery.nextnet.biz2/9.html