(I have commented similarly on Stephen’s Web and Seb Schmoller’s Fortnightly Mailing) Blackboard’s major shareholders include Federated Investors, the Carlyle Group and Oak Hill Capital Partners. These firms are very close to the Whitehouse and are among the biggest corporate and individual donors to the Republican Party and the Bush family. Although I usually favour cock-up to conspiracy, the Bb patent skirmish is, maybe, an important little battle in the hearts-and-minds war. Read here: http://my-world.typepad.com/rworld/. And, that “rural East Texas Jurisdiction” in which the suit against D2L was filed is, possibly, part of the game.