Blackboard Officials Say They Are Likely to Continue Legal Action Against Competitor

A federal judge in Texas ruled on Monday that Desire2Learn Inc. was not in contempt of court for releasing a new version of its software even though a previous version had been found to infringe a patent held by Blackboard Inc. But officials of Blackboard, the country’s dominant provider of course-management software, said they would most likely file a new lawsuit charging that Desire2Learn, their biggest competitor, has infringed Blackboard’s patent again with the new release. For complete coverage of the latest ruling, see a free article in The Chronicle. —Jeffrey R. Young