In 2003, students Billy Hoffman and Virgil Griffith were scheduled to present their research on security flaws in the Blackboard ID card system, used by university campus security systems.

But before the talk, slated for the InterzOne II conference in Atlanta, Blackboard hit them with a cease-and-desist letter, with the infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act behind it.

"Despite the rhetoric in its initial cease and desist letter, Blackboard's lawsuit did not mention the DMCA," said the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation). "The invocation in the original cease-and-desist letter, however, underscores the way the statute has been used to chill security research."

Has Blackboard seen the error of its ways?

"Facing sharp criticism from academic computing experts, Blackboard Inc. announced Thursday what it calls a legally binding promise that it won't pursue patent lawsuits against users of open-source online classroom technology," says Associated Press.

Looks good, but it could be little more than an empty gesture to appease the open source and educational communities.

Because Blackboard isn't, "giving up its right to pursue patent infringement lawsuits against proprietary software companies that it believes are infringing its patents," says the story, going on:

"The company's lawsuit continues against rival Desire2Learn of Waterloo, Ontario."

Wikipedia says:

On January 17, 2006 Blackboard was granted US patent 6,988,138 on "Internet-based education support system and methods" (with other multinational patents having been issued or pending) with extensive claims over many features of VLEs (U.S. Patent 6,988,138). On July 26, 2006, the company issued a press release regarding its patent portfolio and on that day filed a lawsuit against Desire2Learn(D2L) for patent infringement, using the above patent to assert its rights under US patent law. The Complaint was filed in Federal Court in the Eastern District of Texas, Lufkin Division, a rural East Texas judicial district.

Desire2Learn have posted a Patent Information page which comprehensively documents Blackboard's complaint against them.

Many members of the elearning community felt that the patent award ignored the extensive (and enabling) prior art on elearning and distance education and started a Wikipedia page, History of virtual learning environments, and a Moodle Docs wiki page, Online Learning History, to document the extant examples of VLEs. The elearning community has further supported Desire2Learn's defence by calling for a boycott of Blackboard. See, for example, BoycottBlackboard.org.

A web site against education patents, with a lot of information about the patent has been created: Noedupatents.org.

Meanwhile, "Blackboard's announcement includes a statement of support from the Sakai Foundation, a leading open-source group that has criticized the patent, and EDUCAUSE, a national group promoting information technology on campus," says AP, adding:

"But Sakai Chairman John Norman, of the University of Cambridge, said his organization remains concerned bundled code is not included in the pledge and continues to believe the patent should never have been issued."

. Slashdot it!

Also See:
cease-and-desist letter - The DMCA: seven year review, April 13, 2006
Associated Press - Blackboard makes peace offering to open source community with patent pledge, February 1, 2007