B2fxxx

      Saturday, August 30, 2008

 

It seems Desire2Learn has won the latest round in the dispute over Blackboard's ridiculous patent.

"As we reported on May 30, 2008, and contrary to its prior statements welcoming reexamination, Blackboard petitioned the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) to suspend the reexamination of its patent. We responded to that Petition on June 19, and posted it here on June 20, 2008. Blackboard subsequently attempted to file a Reply to our Response, which we inadvertently omitted from this blog, but is now posted here. (As noted below, the PTO rejected Blackboard's Reply.)

On August 22, 2008, we learned that the PTO dismissed Blackboard's Petition to Suspend, rejecting each of Blackboard's arguments. The reexamination will proceed. In addition, the PTO rejected Blackboard's attempted filing of its Reply, noting that the paper was an improper paper; the PTO also expunged the paper from its files.

Where we stand now at the PTO: On March 28, 2008, we announced that the PTO had rejected each of the 44 claims in a non-final action; Blackboard responded to this rejection, which we posted on May 28, 2008 and June 6, 2008 (exhibits); we posted our "Comments" to Blackboard's response on June 27, 2008.

We look forward to the next step in the reexamination process."

Ray 10:12 AM [ Permalink ] Make a New Post

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