Patents on selling via the Net-really?

E-Data Corp. is a company apparently solely in the business of trying to make a buck out of a patent that it bought. Its efforts to make the software industry salute, or at least pay attention to, its Freeny patent (US Patent 4,528,643, issued July 9, 1985) on selling software via the Internet have provoked rage, amusement, and even some actual licenses. This paper discusses E-Data's licencing efforts, the Freeny patent, and objections to the patent.