Information On Blackboard Patent
For those of you attending the Desire2Learn Users Conference today in Guelph this will be redundant information. For those of you not attending, we are sorry you are not here but we wanted to share some information with you in the spirit of our company's historical and ongoing collaborative approach with our clients.
On Wednesday, July 26, Blackboard Inc. issued a press release about a patent that was issued to them by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. That day, Blackboard Inc., a Washington, D.C. corporation, filed suit against Desire2Learn Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging that Desire2Learn is infringing on the patent Blackboard announced that day.
We are disappointed that Blackboard turned to the court system before discussing its claims with us. We intend to defend the action vigorously, but because we just received notice two business days ago, we are unable to comment further at this time. Please understand that due to the nature of litigation some information can not be provided at this time. We pledge that as we are able to provide additional clarity on this matter, we will share information with all of our clients.
Given the current U.S. litigation climate, patent actions are not unusual. While the matter is serious and will require our attention, it will not affect our day-to-day business, product roadmap, attention to client success, or future directions. We have established a team to address strategy and develop an action plan.
We remain confident in our market leadership through continuing innovation and differentiation; superior client support and service; track record of growth; marquee client list (as is evident here at our conference), and extraordinary employees.
Thank you again for your continued commitment and support. As the litigation progresses we may ask for you to provide certain information and we hope you will consider cooperating if we do so.
Should you have any questions please direct them to Jeremy Auger (COO), John McLeod (Director of Marketing), Diane Lank (Internal/US Counsel), or myself.
Our plans here at the Users Conference have not changed; we know this will be our best Users Conference to date given the incredible number of attendees, superb speakers, schedule of informative and fun events, and wonderful host/venue.
Best Regards,
John
John Baker
President & CEO
Desire2Learn Inc
www.Desire2Learn.com
