Where’s the beef?

Someone recently sent me a BBC article on a patent granted to Blackboard covering an Internet-based education server, or as the lingo goes in the industry, a Learning Management System. I’ve read the claims and I agree with Alfred Essa, this patent describes a generic system for online learning and is not an invention at all, but a software and hardware integration effort described in legal terms. It should never have been granted as a patent, and it’s unfortunate that Desire2Learn now has to spend time and money defending itself against these obvious claims, rather than competing in the open marketplace.