Voip Pal Com Inc (VPLM)

[invent4]

You are right. It might be a drop in the bucket, and if VPLM tries to injoin against usage in order to collect, it could be difficult.

The saddest thing about the US Patent system is that in cases of major paradigm shifts such as the energy inventions that could benefit everybody except energy companies and the general economy, or in cases of national security, there are clauses in patent law that actually encourage the government to exercise something similar to eminent domain and literally confiscate the IP rights. I had a friend that invented a simple device that was proven to increase a large gas V8 car's mileage to 100+ mpg. Within 2 days of the government(DOE) finding out about it he was threatened never to do anything with his invention again - lots similar situations disclosed on the internet. Of course its a lot harder for the government and large private interests to block a publicly held company.