mo@messy.bellcore.com (Michael O'Dell) (07/05/90)
This is in fact incorrect in a slightly more narrow sense. I've been told of a large oil exploration company who pioneered the use of electronics in oil prospecting, and holds and has successfully and aggressively enforced a general technology patent on using electronic devices in the search for petroleum in the earth. Seems they get a non-trivial number of dollars from this patent. -Mike