May 2008 — News
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Blackboard Defends Patent, Files More Claims
Specifically, the patent is limited in the following way, according to Blackboard's comments:
"Once a person is logged into the system as a user with a user name and password, that user must be capable of having multiple predetermined roles in the system to satisfy the claims of the Alcorn patent. A system which does not provide the capability of a user to have multiple roles once that person is logged in using the single user name and password, but instead requires a person to perform a separate login procedure using a different user name and password in order to assume a different role, does not meet the clear limitations of the independent claims 1 and 36 of the Alcorn patent."
Furthermore, the claims only apply to learning management systems in educational settings. Blackboard does not claim to have invented multiple roles for users; it claims to have been the first to use the concept in the education space in specific circumstances, i.e., allowing a single user with a single logon and single user account to hold multiple roles across multiple courses. In the USPTO's reexamination, it found that this was an "obvious" application of a technology and was therefore not patentable. Blackboard, in its response to the USPTO this week, objected to this and sought to have the claims of obviousness withdrawn. The reasons Blackboard cited were numerous and can all be found in Blackboard's response, which is available in PDF form from Desire2Learn's site here.
New Patent Claims
In addition to defending its patent, Blackboard also took the opportunity to try to expand it, adding 13 new claims. All of these new claims relate to systems and methods involved in the claims that the Patent Office has tentatively rejected. They are all, in other words, dependent claims. Blackboard also wrote in its filing that the new claims do not broaden the Alcorn patent.
"These claims do not broaden the scope of the claims, as they merely add further limitations to claims already issued," according to Blackboard's May 27 filing.
The new claims include matters relating to the means for storing data, the means for assigning access, various subsystems, permissions, access (or lack thereof) to features based on user roles, and enabling and disabling pre-defined characteristics based on user roles.
Again, the complete response to the USPTO can be found in PDF format here.
Now that Blackboard has responded to the decision, Desire2Learn will also have an opportunity to respond. Once that happens, there is no fixed timeframe for a final decision from the Patent Office. We will, of course, keep you posted.
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About the author: David Nagel is the executive editor for 1105 Media's online education technology publications, including THE Journal and Campus Technology. He can be reached at dnagel@1105media.com.
Proposals for articles and tips for news stories, as well as questions and comments about this publication, should be submitted to David Nagel, executive editor, at dnagel@1105media.com.
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