A legal battle between the firm which owns Britain’s second-largest exam board and one of its rivals over the right to develop computer marking technology has been called off. NCS Pearson, which owns Edexcel, has reached an out-of-court settlement with marking technology firm DRS Data and Research Services, following a dispute which was due to go to the High Court next month. DRS had sought to challenge NCS Pearson’s right to claim patents over some on-screen marking.The settlement means DRS can use the patents under licence from NCS Pearson.