[link|http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-6582781.html?tag=mn_hd|http://news.cnet.co...ml?tag=mn_hd]

Can you believe this ?????A federal appeals court has for the second time breathed life into a patent that could force software vendors to pay licensing fees to sell their products directly over the Internet.

A full panel of judges on the Federal Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Friday ordered a lower court that effectively had thrown out the patent to reconsider its scope more broadly.

The decision is a setback for software makers including Intuit and AOL Time Warner's CompuServe unit, which have been battling a small Secaucus, N.J.-based company known as E-Data for years over the patent, which dates back to 1985.

E-Data's defendants say the company's claim would entitle it to licensing fees for all Internet software downloads.

"This is the case that would not die," said Carl Oppedahl, attorney with Dillon, Colo.-based Oppedahl & Larson, which is defending Softlock Services in the case. "It has been going since 1995, and it isn't over yet. If the patent owner prevails in its view, they stand to be wealthier than Microsoft."

etc: etc: etc:
************************************************************

Cheers - Doug