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1.  

   Because . . .

   

   Charles Griswold, Jun 15th, 2007 @ 5:26pm

   
   

   Why kill off the competition for no societal benefit?

   To make money, of course.

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2.  

   I have come to the conclusion...

   

   ScaredOfTheMan, Jun 15th, 2007 @ 6:03pm

   
   

   Its not the patent applicants who are to blame (completely), its the USPTO, their sole purpose is to grant patents, so more, not matter how silly, or how potential detrimental impact on innovation, its always good. Like any institution their primary concern is the business of self perpetuation. All the have to do is deny or revoke a few every now and then and they look like the good guy here.
   
   
   Just my thoughts

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3.  

   

   BetweenTheLines, Jun 15th, 2007 @ 6:27pm

   
   

   If you read the patent, you'll see that it is neither the first patent of its kind nor that remarkable. They even provide information on prior art. What they are patenting is linking SIC codes to callers and advertisements. Not very novel and still quite silly for a patent. Nevertheless, there is more between the lines than your article provides.

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4.  

   

   Anonymous Coward, Jun 16th, 2007 @ 3:21am

   
   

   doesnt google already have this service ...

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5.  

   There is one like this in India too

   

   Sudhanshu, Jun 16th, 2007 @ 8:04am

   
   

   there is another company doing exactly the same thing here in India. It's called JustDialIn, and I think they have some $15 million in funding already, and get over 200,000 hits a day on the site.
   
   I'm a little ignorant about issues like this, so just want to know if they are going to be affected?

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6.  

   There will still be competition

   

   Marc Cohen, Jun 16th, 2007 @ 11:29am

   
   

   This patent will not kill competition in this space. The patent applies to specific implementations of free 411 service. Free 411 services will still be offered and will not infringe on this patent. Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central Blog at: http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/

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7.  

   Re:

   

   inc, Jun 16th, 2007 @ 11:38am

   
   

   yea but without the ads and it better
   http://labs.google.com/goog411/?gclid=CM6m4Z6k4YwCFShDXgodOBLozQ

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8.  

   Patent Law Needs Rewriting

   

   DFL, Jun 17th, 2007 @ 7:12pm

   
   

   A kid patented a method of swinging on a swingset to make it go from side-to-side, or some such nonsense. The fact that such foolishness can be patented is a testiment to what a joke the patent system is. Patents are supposed to be issued for non-obvious innovations. But patents are awarded like candy these days and serve only to stifle innovation as intermediate steps are patented to block others from advancing.

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9.  

   not so fast

   

   Paul from Jingle, Jun 22nd, 2007 @ 4:03pm

   
   

   For those who bring up the Google number, just know that it has no operator support to back up the voice recognition system, nor does it have residential or gov't listings. 1-800-Free411 has both live operator support and business, residential, and gov't listings.

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