Heh...How about this irony...
With the patent, AOL could technically sue rival instant messaging services for infringement backed by the argument spelled out in the patent.
Link this with...
Uh...what about IRC? Was around long before ICQ. And UNIX for that matter...could finger user (see if they're online) and talk user (chat) long, long ago.
...And all of a sudden you've got Microsoft using UNIX-based tools to defend itself against a patent-infringement lawsuit.
-YendorMike
[link|http://www.hope-ride.org/|http://www.hope-ride.org/]