Patent was http://www.google.com/patents/US6970917 http://www.google.com/patents/US6970917 What I find most concerning about this is that the -idea- of respond

Patent was http://www.google.com/patents/US6970917 http://www.google.com/patents/US6970917 What I find most concerning about this is that the -idea- of responding to control messages sent via special e-mails was deemed worthy of $8 per unit. The end company doesn't get enough $s per unit to value individual ideas this highly. Even if I were willing to grant that this is an idea deserving of patent protection, and even if I was willing to consider $0 to go from the idea to a functioning implementation, there are definitely hundreds, probably thousands, perhaps even millions of ideas of this complexity involved in this one product. Individual devices would have to be priced like airplanes if this is deemed a reasonable price for each individual detail of how it works.