The state's education department contracted with eScholar, a company based in White Plains, New York, for student data collection software from 2004 until November 2019. The state education department paid $84,000 to eScholar with its last renewal, which ended Oct. 31.
Now, the state uses a system it designed — one that the lawsuit alleges uses unique design elements and features of the software copyrighted by eScholar.
Called the Nebraska ADVISER Dashboard, the education department's system offers a web-based view of student and staff data to help educators personalize instruction and make data-driven decisions.
Because the education department puts instructional materials for its new system on its website, others could steal the e-Scholar trade secrets used by Nebraska officials to create its new system, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges the department breached its contract with e-Scholar, which says it won’t use any of the company’s product design elements without written consent, which never was given.
The lawsuit asks the U.S. District Court for a preliminary injunction to prohibit the Nebraska Department of Education from using its new system or putting it on its website; to permanently prohibit the state from using protected elements of the company’s software; and seeks at least $15 million in damages for copyright infringements.
©2020 Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
