Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 01/98) - Yellowknife-based Coynet International Corporation, the company which has developed a coin-operated Internet access system, has obtained a US patent.

The patent gives Coynet principals Perry and Donna Smith the right to prevent others from making and using the same invention in the United States.

"I've invented a restricted-access computer," Smith.

"It uses a combination of hardware and software we invented which takes an off-the-shelf PC and enables it with secure, paid, public access," he said.

The technology, a combination of hardware and software that fits in a box about the size a keyboard, sells for about $1,300.

A full unit: hardware, software, monitor, keyboard and custom-built cabinet sells for about $5,000.

The system, which has taken three years to develop to its current design, will accept all currencies as well as credit and debit cards.

Smith, who owns Computer Games Arcade on Franklin Avenue, is working with computer programmers Richard Barnes and Mike Bird on the design.

The patent, number 5774652, was issued yesterday by the United States Department of Commerce patent and trademark office.

Each country has its own patent laws but there are international patent agreements.

Smith, who has operated the arcade for several years, sought a pay-for-use Internet system, but when he couldn't find one, he decided to make his own.

"I have a background in PCs and I knew what I wanted."

Smith said he spent several hundred thousand dollars of his own money to bring his invention to this point.

And he acknowledges there is much work to be done to get the risk he is taking to pay back big.

He describes the US patent as a "milestone" which "gives room for more development."

To sell the product, Coynet has distributors in 11 countries. Among the countries Coynet has sold the product in -- Ireland, Israel, South Africa and Australia.

Smith, who has sold about 150 units so far, said the biggest application could be in libraries, mostly in Europe.

Smith estimates he will soon ship about 100 more. He could have 500 or 600 on the market by the end of the year.

Coynet is looking at Europe as a market because it focuses more on pay for use than flat-rate fees.

Asked where he found distributors for the Coynet product, Smith said that he didn't have to find them.

"They were looking for us."

And how did they find Coynet? On the Internet, of course.