In March the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a preliminary decision that could have significant ramifications for universities that use course-management software, as well as for the companies that make it. The "nonfinal" decision rejects all 44 claims Blackboard Inc. made for its controversial patent of an online-learning system. Recently, a federal jury in Lufkin, Texas, ordered a Canadian firm, Desire2Learn, to pay Blackboard $3.1-million for infringing that patent. That decision worried university officials, who were concerned they would soon be in a market that offered Blackboard and little else. However, the patent office, in its recent re-examination, cited several examples of "prior art," or previously available technology, that was similar to what Blackboard said it had invented. The patent involves a course-management system in which a single user with a single log-on could have multiple roles in multiple classes. The federal office awarded the patent in 2006, and within months, Blackboard sued Desire2Learn for infringement.