The US Patent and Trademark Office today ordered re-examination of the e-learning patent owned by Blackboard Inc. Once again, we have the Software Freedom Law Center to thank for filing the request. Their press release tells us this:
The Patent Office found that prior art cited in SFLC's request raises "a substantial new question of patentability" regarding all 44 claims of Blackboard's patent....A re-examination of this type usually takes one or two years to complete. Roughly 70% of re-examinations are successful in having a patent narrowed or completely revoked.
All 44 claims. Here's the press release.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Patent Office Orders Re-Examination of Blackboard Patent
NEW YORK, January 25, 2007 -- In response to a formal request filed by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today ordered re-examination of the e-learning patent owned by Blackboard Inc.
SFLC, provider of pro-bono legal services to protect and advance Free and Open Source Software, had filed the request in November on behalf of Sakai, Moodle, and ATutor, three open source educational software projects. The Patent Office found that prior art cited in SFLC's request raises "a substantial new question of patentability" regarding all 44 claims of Blackboard's patent.
The patent in question, "Internet-based education support system and methods" (U.S. 6988138), grants Blackboard a monopoly on most educational software that differentiates between the roles of teacher and student until the year 2022. In July, Blackboard filed a lawsuit against Desire2Learn, a competing educational software maker, alleging infringement of its e-learning patent.
Although Desire2Learn's software is not open source, the open source and educational software communities responded with concern to the possibility of an additional lawsuit that targets them.
"We filed this re-examination request to help free software developers create and distribute their original software without having to fear being sued over this patent, a patent that should never have been awarded in the first place," said Richard Fontana, the SFLC attorney who filed the re-examination request. "We are now a step closer to keeping everyone safe from this patent."
A re-examination of this type usually takes one or two years to complete. Roughly 70% of re-examinations are successful in having a patent narrowed or completely revoked.
Shortly after SFLC filed its request for re-examination, Desire2Learn filed its own separate re-examination request. The USPTO has not yet acted on that request.
About the Software Freedom Law Center
The Software Freedom Law Center -- chaired by Eben Moglen, one of the world's leading experts on intellectual property law as applied to software -- provides legal representation and other law-related services to protect and advance Free and Open Source Software. The Law Center is dedicated to assisting non-profit open source developers and projects. For criteria on eligibility and to apply for assistance, please contact the Law Center directly or visit the Web at http://www.softwarefreedom.org.