My Oct. 19 column was titled, “Patently Controversial.” It certainly was.
We received feedback in one form or another from Captain Joe Hanna of Richardson (Texas) Police Department’s communication division (APCO president-elect); K. Sue Hoyt, chairwoman of the ComCare Alliance; Lavergne Schwender, assistant county attorney for Harris County, Texas; Laverne Hogan, executive director of the Greater Harris County 911 Emergency Network; and Jim Conran, chairman of the Ad Hoc Alliance for Public Access to 911. In other words, I managed to peeve all sides.
The column was not intended to offend anyone professionally or personally, but it did. I fear the main point I was trying to make-that patents may be impacting telecom policy-was lost.
So I’ll say it again: The impact of patents in an increasingly knowledge-based, information rich, high-tech world puts a premium on ideas-good ones.
I mentioned three wireless policy controversies, but the complaints received only mentioned my discussion of the strongest/adequate signal debate.
To emphasize the poisoned atmosphere in which the latter is occurring, I recounted allegations leveled against Robert Zicker, a GTE Services employee and a patent holder of strongest-signal technology, and against John Melcher, director of information systems for Greater Harris County’s 911 Network in Texas and a developer of patents for emergency communications systems.
My objective in the column was to use the combustible accusations against Melcher and Zicker to symbolize the venomous crossfire. I am not leveling these charges; the opposing groups are lodging them against each other. I am the messenger.
Mr. Melcher and I spoke last week. In his defense, Melcher said the patents he developed are owned by the GHC 911 Network-a public agency-and are not related to wireless telecom solutions.
I gleaned patent information relative to Mr. Melcher from a bio submitted with his written testimony on a E911 federal land antenna-siting bill. In a recent column, I implored Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain to embrace that bill. Indeed, I have tracked public-safety communications policy for the past 16 years and have written many a story about public safety finding itself ignored or wronged by federal regulators. The bio I depended on made no reference to GHC 911’s ownership of Mr. Melcher’s patents.
Mr. Melcher also stressed that while he interfaces with APCO, NENA, CTIA and others, he is not a proxy for any of them-including ComCare.
That said, it is up to the FCC-the telecom proxy for the public interest-to decide how best to ensure that wireless 911 calls are answered. And lives saved.
