Re: E-commerce patents

"madknoxie" <> wrote in message
news:madknoxie-...
> I just came across this article in the Herald about a Canadian firm
> demanding licenses from e-tailers because it was granted a patent here
> because they were the first to "computerise the ability to do
> international business transactions".
>
> So does that mean that ANYONE who sells online is subject to these legal
> threats? That in itself is bizarre, but how on earth were they granted
> the patent in the first place?
>
I believe one Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, who in 1899
was purported to have said "Everything that can be invented has been
invented" or if not him then one of his relatives...

David