Actually, times are tough. In the local telephone
business residential rates are heavily subsidized by
the exceptionally high rates charged to businesses.
Compare your company's phone bill to your home bill
and when you divide out the number of lines dedicated
to your business you will find that the business lines
cost many times more than your residential line.
There is a lot of equipment that has to be maintained
and replaced to make sure that your phone is working
almost everytime you pick it up, as opposed to the
sporadic nature of cable. The basic monthly rate
doesn't even cover the cost, much less push a profit.
But that has nothing to do with copyright . . .
Keith
- Chris Mohr <chrismohr[_at_]sprintmail.com> wrote:
> Things must be tough in the local telephone monopoly
> business. It's
> really difficult to make money when you have 30
> bucks a month guaranteed
> from every single person with a phone line.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org
> [mailto:owner-cni-copyright[_at_]cni.org]
> On Behalf Of Eric Schnell
> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 10:40 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: SBC enforcing all-encompassing Web patent
>
>
> This IP item emerged last week:
>
>
> SBC Communications Inc is enforcing a patent it owns
> that, it claims,
> covers the use of frame-like user interfaces in web
> sites According to
> an SBC letter published by MuseumTour.com, which was
> the first to
> disclose SBC was demanding license fees, simply
> using an interface that
> remains on-screen while a user navigates the site
> could constitute
> infringement of US patents 5,933,841 and 6,442,574,
> both entitled
> "Structured Document Browser".
>
> SBC is asking between $527 and $16.6m per year to
> license the patented
> technology, depending on the annual revenue of the
> company concerned and
> what kind of license they sign up for.
>
>
> http://news.com.com/2100-1023-981446.html?tag=cd_mh
>
>
> Eric Schnell
> Assistant Professor
> Head, Information Technology Services
> Prior Health Sciences Library
> The Ohio State University
> schnell.9[_at_]osu.edu / 614-292-4870
> http://bones.med.ohio-state.edu/eric.html
>
> "You see, I don't believe that libraries should be
> drab places where
> people
> sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for
> our policy of
> employing
> wild animals as librarians." --Monty Python's
> Flying Circus
>
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Received on Wed Jan 29 2003 - 13:28:44 GMT