[Carol]

Richard is right, interpreting patent claims for possible infringement is a very specialized area of patent law and there are many very, very bright and hard working patent attorneys in this area. (And it is one of the most lucrative specialties as well.) And I am positive that Dean, who is very bright himself and very knowledgeable about patent law, has made sure that whatever group of attorneys is handling this patent is well aware of the potential infringement issue. IFI and FIRST still talk to each other - IFI employees were special guests at Atlanta. They all have the same goal as Dave pointed out, and there is plenty of room for both programs to grow. So I would bet that agreements and/or licensing have already been worked out.

As a side note, all patent attorneys have to have the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in a science or technical field such as engineering before they can get licensed to practice patent law. Many have PhDs in their field before they go to law school.

Here are the IFI patents referred to in a previous note. Highly recommended if you need some help getting to sleep at night. The systems described may look familiar to you.