I found out yesterday that my first patent that I had filed back in 1998 was issued in 2002 but the company that I was working at back then did not notify me. That sucks but at least I know the patent went through. It's an interesting patent that I honestly was sure that it would be questioned. It's such a fundamental and basic concept that is used in peer-to-peer networks and other distributed systems. The patent was issued under 6363416.