AOL has won a US patent for instant messaging

Instant messaging allows people to chat over the internet by typing and rivals SMS as the most popular new communication tool (see www.aol.co.uk/aim/). The patent opens up the possibility for AOL to collect royalties from rivals Microsoft and Yahoo. It was developed and patented in the mid-1990s by a group of Israeli's and their company was acquired by AOL in 1998 for $287 million.