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=All your LMS are belong to Us=

On the 26th July, 2006, Blackboard Inc [|announced] it had successfully acquired a [|patent] over many of the core functionalities of learning management systems worldwide, from a patent application filed in 2000, as well as holding 30 patents granted and pending worldwide. On the same day, it lodged [|civil proceedings] against **Desire2Learn**, a competing LMS vendor.

As LMS philosophies and technologies were [|developed independently] by a number of entities over the preceding decade, Blackboard's claim seems [|ridiculous]. However, their prompt action against Desire2Learn demonstrates the willingness of Blackboard Inc to wilfully ignore their own [|code of ethics] in their competitive practices.

Ensuing research by the e-learning community revealed that SAP also have a number of patents pending on various e-learning methods. While these are less broad than Blackboard's patents, and have not yet been used by SAP in an anti-competitive or unethical way, the educational community has still expressed concern at the ethical, innovation, validity and equity implications of patenting educational technologies.

This wiki is being set up as a source of information and resources on the issue of Blackboard's patent and the intellectual property issues of e-learning technologies in general. Interested educators are invited to join and contribute to this resource, and to post to the associated edublog, http://blackfate.edublogs.org.

===For information on what you can do to help, see our "How to Help" page. Or, if you would like to participate in a collaborative effort to preserve the freedom of e-learning, why not join WITE?===