[JDEV] Slashdot article on IM Bots patent

[James MacMillan]

Slashdot just put up a story that should be of interest to everyone on 
this list.

Apparently, the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted a huge patent 
to ActiveBuddy that
covers every step of IM bot technology.

It is completely ludicris, but it does exist.

http://slashdot.org/articles/02/08/15/1350230.shtml?tid=155

(links from the text of the article)
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/1446781
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/search-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=ft00&s1=activebuddy&OS=activebuddy&RS=activebuddy