In the wake of BT’s claim earlier this week to patent rights in hyperlinking, US company TeleDynamics has made a patent application which it maintains will have widespread ramifications for several telecommunication mediums including the internet and telephone services.
 The patent covers all transactions carried out as part of a “lead generation” process. Although the patent remains unpublished, and therefore its detail is not yet known, this is expected to encompass situations where companies gather information from customers by automated means and then pass it on to a third party.

The US patent office has informed TeleDynamics that it will be granted the patent, causing concern among market research businesses and others.

However, several critics believe that any attempt by TeleDynamics to enforce the patent could be challenged on the grounds that it is too broad to be enforceable. Indeed, some have expressed the opinion that, on the basis of statements made by the company itself, Teledynamics did not invent the techniques concerned.

Despite this assertion, the company evidently feels that it has been rightly awarded the patent and its CEO, Monte Sims, confirmed its opinion that “it’s not an erroneous patent of any type”. He added: “We will defend our patent.”

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