There has been some discussion in regard to sending letters to our legislators and they are really quite imporant now.

From the shareholders' letter: "In July, 2007, we advised you of pending federal legislation regarding the 2007 Patent Reform bill, which we believe if passed would negatively impact the future success of our licensing program. TPL has devoted an enormous amount of time to this issue and has prepared very valuable information, which is posted on their website. We encourage everyone to view and consider the information on TPL's website at http://www.tplgroup.net/legislation. You can help by writing to your Senators and Congressional Representatives sooner rather than later, as time is of the essence. We are attaching a copy of TPL's suggested letter for your reference if you wish to write a letter about this important legislation. "

Last August, there was considerable discussion about contacting our congressional reps and it might be worthwhile repeating some of it.

Often (most of the time), aides to our Senators and Representatives open the mail and determine what the "big guy" reads. Mail regarding upcoming legislation is (for the most part) simply counted and placed in a "for" or "against" stack. This is not to say that an informative, well written letter will not be read.

Other than with letters, you can reach their offices with e-mail, faxes, phone calls and telegrams There was a time when a telegram received the most attention (probably due to the cost of sending it), but I don't know if that is true today. Phone calls can be made to the Washington office or the local office, or both. Remember that all these actions can be repeated many times.

For those that do not wish to consume a lot of their valuable time, but do want to help, a simple letter ( other form of communication) saying: "Please vote NO on s.1145" will be very helpful. Numbers are what we want in this situation and the busier the staff is, the more important the issue becomes.

I will post a letter that I wrote last August in another message.

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