FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

"Privacy Patent"? Just don't license it.

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.

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