Sprint launched a legal action against education application developer Blackboard, following a dispute about a deal to offer mobile learning software to US universities. According to The Financial Investigator, estimates of the annual revenue for Blackboard from the Sprint deal “run as high as US$15 million,” while Kansas City Business Journal said that Sprint has withheld nearly US$3 million in fees from Blackboard since May 2011.

According to the legal papers, Sprint and Blackboard had agreed to develop two versions of the Mobile Learn application, with one being Sprint-exclusive and the other operator agnostic. The Sprint version was offered free of charge to institutions, but with Sprint as the sole network provider, for which the operator made a payment to Blackboard. The network agnostic version was charged for, with a percentage of the fee remitted to Sprint. The agreement also “specifically prohibits the development of ‘unauthorised application[s]’ for use with non-Sprint wireless carriers.”

Blackboard subsequently launched a version of Mobile Learn for Apple iOS devices using WiFi connectivity, and since then, it has “developed, marketed and provided a WiFi version of Mobile Learn to numerous colleges and universities for use with their student’s wireless devices.” This includes groups who have not purchased either of the existing versions, as well as sites that have deployed the Sprint solution. In the latter case, this means that “Sprint is now paying Blackboard for Mobile Learn in the same colleges and universities where Blackboard is actively competing with Sprint and undercutting its exclusivity rights by providing an alternative WiFi version of Mobile Learn.”

Sprint has said that it will suffer “irreparable harm” as the result of the violation of its exclusivity rights. It is looking to have sales of the WiFi version of the app terminated.

The companies’ partnership was announced in May 2010, when the operator also said it would promote the joint solution through a “comprehensive campus awareness campaign.” Ironically, it also promoted its Overdrive 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot product as part of the portfolio, to enable a Sprint network connection to be shared among students via WiFi.

Earlier this year, Blackboard, which offers desktop apps as well as mobile products, announced it was to be acquired by a group led by Providence Equity Partners for approximately US$1.6 billion.