[FYI] "Privacy Patent"? Just don't license it.

[Kristian Köhntopp <kris@koehntopp.de>]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,37121,00.html


Patent Seeks to Collect on Data 
by Chris Oakes 

3:00 a.m. Jun. 21, 2000 PDT 

TeleDynamics, a small Florida company, said its newly awarded patent has
major
import for -- well, just about any automated service that gathers user
information
and passes it to someone else. 

The company said its patent award has "sweeping" ramifications for
Internet,
telephone, and wireless Web services. 

"The ramification would be the prospect of licensing the product
across the board," said Monte Sims, CEO of TeleDynamics. Few
information services in the Internet, wireless, and 800-number
industries would not be affected, he said. 

The patent applies to "interactive lead generation" and covers
just about any automated information practice in which a
company harvests a customer's information and then provides it
to a third party. That means services collecting user info over the
Internet or via toll-free telephone numbers could find themselves
in the patent's legal crosshairs. 

...

-- 
"This company has performed an illegal operation and will be shut  down. 
 If the problem persists, contact your vendor or appeal to  a higher
court."
	-- http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=00/06/07/2015223&cid=68