Blackbeard Loses - Maybe

I just like using that title - Blackboard Loses! I might use it at the beginning of every post, even if the post has nothing to do with Blackboard. Just finished reading an informative article in Campus Technology today that paints a picture of the contempt hearing that is colorably different from what most people are thinking. David Nagel talked with Matthew Small on Monday night after news spread about the contempt charges being thrown out by the Texas judge. Small, the chief legal dude for the evil empire, tells Nagel the following - (excerpted from CT article)

Small recounted that the judge in the case in reviewing the contempt motion seemed to have agreed with that, saying that version 8.3 is not, in fact, colorably different from version 8.2.2; nevertheless, the judge did not issue sanctions against Desire2Learn, leaving it up to Blackboard to meet the burden of proof that the new version does infringe.

Does this mean a new trial? That isn't quite clear either. But Blackboard is definitely not dropping the matter.

"It's still our position this is not a valid workaround," Small told us. He said Blackboard will be taking the next steps in the matter when those steps become clear. The final order from the court has not yet been issued to either party. What that order says will determine what happens next in the case.

Apparently we can expect the evil empire to continue to make friends and influence people in the education world. Will they get their just desserts? As we say in Minnesota - you betcha!

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