Online learning isn’t just a matter of email and chat rooms. Most e-schools require students to download their software to enable them to easily access class assignments and turn in homework. It’s this software that is causing a ruckus in the legal system:
Blackboard-the company responsible for the software many institutions use to manage their online education courses-announced that it had been awarded a U.S. patent for E-learning technology. The same day, the company filed a patent-infringement suit against Desire2Learn, one of its primary competitors. For the first time on a major level, the potential conflicts of E-learning’s two main influences clashed, the freedom-of-ideas model of higher education facing off against the intellectual property practices of the tech industry.

The two sides are scheduled to meet with the courts in December, according to the attorney for Blackboard. That company, which already controls about 60 percent of the market for these learning management systems, maintains that most students and faculty won’t be affected by the legal battle. “This is no different from the many, many other E-learning patents that are out there,” says Matthew Small, Blackboard’s lawyer. “It has no negative impact on learning.”
Online students probably won’t see any changes in their current software until after the suit is settled. Online students probably won’t see any changes in their current software until after the suit is settled.Online students probably won’t see any changes in their current software until after the suit is settled.

Online students probably won’t see any changes in their current software until after the suit is settled.

Online Learning References:

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