As the patent battle between Blackboard Inc. and Desire2Learn Inc. continues in court, officials from the two companies are escalating a war of words in the press and in the blogosphere.

In a statement issued Monday on its blog, Desire2Learn accused Blackboard’s general counsel, Matthew Small, of spreading false information to try to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt about its competitor in his recent statements to The Chronicle and other publications.

Mr. Small’s remarks came last week after Blackboard asked a federal judge in Texas to hold Desire2Learn in contempt of court, alleging that its competitor continues to sell software that was found to have infringed a patent held by Blackboard. Desire2Learn recently released a new version of its software that its officials said removed features that were found to have infringed Blackboard’s patent.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Small said that Desire2Learn’s latest software release is no more than a cosmetic change and that the move flouts the court order. Mr. Small also said his company was willing to provide free temporary licenses to its patented technology to colleges now using Desire2Learn, should that company be barred from selling the latest release of its software, as Blackboard has urged. “Our goal is not to have anyone’s course-management system shut down during class,” said Mr. Small. He made similar comments to other publications as well.

Desire2Learn fired back in its statement this week: “As we’ve demonstrated before, no school is going to get shut down. Not next week, not next year, or anytime. We’ve already shown that through this litigation.” And Desire2Learn’s statement argues that the latest version of its software removes all features that were at issue in the patent dispute.

The statement says that the company is financially sound, and in fact has increased its sales and its staff over the past six months.

“Competition is healthy for the market, drives innovation, provides options to clients, helps keep prices in check,” said the statement. “Litigation is unhealthy for the market, stifles innovation, increases costs and constrains the institutions all of us are here to serve.”

Mr. Small said last week that Blackboard is simply trying to protect its intellectual property. “I don’t think there’s anything bullying about it,” he said. “No university wants to be in violation of a federal court order.”

The legal battle has led to a “a very unstable environment for colleges using course-management systems,” said Michael Zastrocky, vice president for research at Gartner Inc., a technology-consulting firm, in an interview last week. That instability may result in more colleges forgoing commercial products completely, installing free open-source systems like Moodle and Sakai instead. —Jeffrey R. Young

Categories: Company-Watch