This is a gem - I was reading up on the Sprint Nextel Files VoIP Patent Suit Against Vonage, Others and I decided to see what other Patents that were out there regarding VoIP. I stumbled across this.

United States Patent 6826174
Voice-over-IP interface for standard household telephone
Issued on November 30, 2004
Abstract

The present invention enables a traditional analog telephone to be used with VoIP applications. For example, the user could connect their standard 900 MHz telephone to this invention, establish a VoIP call and enjoy the freedom of movement their cordless telephone provides. The preferred embodiment of the present invention minimizes overhead to the host computer via a dual CODEC modem that incorporates a DSP capable of simultaneous communication with the two CODEC modules. This architecture facilitates a latency and communication overhead reduction as the analog voice signals effectively "stream" from the first CODEC to the second CODEC.
Inventor(s)
* Tim Urry Price
* Rich Erekson
* Timothy W. Aldridge
Assignee
* 3Com Corporation

Now I am not a lawyer or anything, but I believe that this would mean that either these guys are getting money off of every ATA that's out there, or folks are infringing on their patent. This is either a complete joke or very scary.

Adam "voiploser" Uzelac