[Ecommerce] E-Commerce Battles 'Me'-Commerce / A lone patent holder asserts vast rights over shopping on the Web. Others call it extortion.

[James Love]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-patent8feb08001442,1,3711257.story

E-Commerce Battles 'Me'-Commerce
A lone patent holder asserts vast rights over shopping on the Web.
Others call it extortion.

By David Streitfeld
LA Times Staff Writer

February 8 2003

It took seven years and tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees,
but Lawrence Lockwood was finally awarded U.S. Patent No. 6,289,319
in September 2001.

The former San Diego travel agent believed that the patent, for an
"automatic business and financial transaction processing system,"
gave him significant control over shopping on the Internet.

He promptly sent letters to 100 e-commerce firms, saying they were
violating his new patent as well as one from 1996. He politely
suggested they buy a license from him for $10,000, although he hinted
that the price was negotiable.

Ten companies told him to get lost. The 90 others didn't bother to reply.

"American businesses do not respond when you ask them nicely," Lockwood
said.

So he started suing them -- a New Jersey plumbing supply company, a
New York ski shop, an Oregon fabric store. This has gotten their
attention, and often their money too.

Lockwood's targets complain that he is practicing "legalized
extortion," an accusation he denies.

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