Patent Fight

Now that Blackboard has received a patent on its course-management system, many college officials are worried that they need to protect themselves legally. Michael Feldstein, assistant director of the State University of New York’s SUNY Learning Network, runs a blog called e-Literate and is encouraging institutions to prepare themselves in the event they get sued for their use of course-management systems. The better college administrators understand the potential legal threats, he reasons, the more pressure they will put on the company to end patent litigation. See The Chronicle’s full coverage. —Dan Carnevale