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GEN-ERIC Patent News Tuesday, June 3,
2003
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to Access any Area of Interest Headlines News Patents of the Day Access Official Gazette and
Notices Patents Available for Licensing Patent Employment
Opportunities
Printer Friendly Version ================================================== HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours
ago..) The Dude, Where's my Skis Patent of the Day
goes to Performance Media Industries, Ltd. of California for a Apparatus for locating skis beneath snow
The Tongue
Tied Patent of the Day goes to an Inventor from California for an Erotic
stimulation device
Index ================================================== NEWS Jury tells eBay to pay $35 million for patent
infringement http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=jurytellsebaytop1054205777&area=news A
jury has decided that eBay wilfully infringed patents belonging to Thomas
Woolston of MercExchange and ordered the on-line auction leader to pay $35
million in damages. EBay intends to appeal Tuesday's US court decision. The
dispute between eBay and MercExchange has been running since October 2001, and
hinges on an auction site patent application that was filed a few months before
eBay was launched in 1995. The patent dispute related to the “Buy it now”
service on the eBay site, which deals with fixed price sales, and a facility to
search other on-line auction houses. The case will now go back to the trial
judge who can, if he sees fit, increase the damages awarded, up to three times
the current award. He may also issue a permanent injunction against the company,
preventing eBay from using the patented technology. Index Honda Says It
Won Patent Lawsuit in China http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/5996371.htm Japanese
automaker Honda Motor Co. has won a lawsuit in Beijing against the Chinese
government to restore the company's motor scooter design patent, a company
spokeswoman said Monday. Honda's patent for its popular Chinese-made Stream
scooter was canceled in September when a court backed the decision a year
earlier by China's State Intellectual Property Office to revoke a patent awarded
in 1994. The Beijing High People's Court overturned the lower court's ruling on
Friday, company spokeswoman Yuriko Yabe said. Index VIA files lawsuit against
Mediatek for patent infringement http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Article1.asp?datePublish=2003/06/03&pages=PR&seq=206 Taiwan-based
IC designer VIA Technologies has filed a lawsuit against MediaTek for patent
infringement by its optical storage controllers, VIA said in a statement today.
The suit, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California
(San Francisco Division), alleges that MediaTek breached VIA’s US patent
6,459,665 with its DVD-ROM, CD-RW and combo controller products. The patent
relates to an apparatus and operating method that increases the bandwidth of
high-speed optical storage devices, according to VIA. VIA will seek a
preliminary injunction on the sale, display and import of these products into
the US. It may also ask for the destruction of inventory held in the US and an
unspecified level of compensation, VIA said.
Index ================================================== PATENTS OF THE DAY
6,573,834
Apparatus for locating skis
beneath snow
Background: Alpine
skiing is a popular sport. When a snow skier falls and any stress (above an
adjustable, predetermined level) is applied to the boot-to-ski binding system,
the bindings are designed to release so that the ski and binding detach from the
boot. This avoids injury to the skier by preventing excessive torque to the
skier's leg. Under normal groomed snow conditions a ski braking system engages
upon release of the binding, and the ski comes to a stop. It is relatively easy
for the skier to then recover the ski and reattach it to the ski boot. Under
conditions of un-groomed powder snow, after release of the safety binding system
(and when retainer straps are not used by the skier), the ski will typically
sink down into the powder snow, and it can be difficult or impossible for the
skier to find the lost ski. Skiers usually poke through the snow with a ski pole
hoping to strike the ski to locate and recover it. This exercise can be
difficult and very time-consuming, since the skier has no information on the
general location of the ski.
Summary: The apparatus
for locating skis beneath snow of this invention provides an improved system to
assist a skier in locating an unattached ski in powder snow after a fall. The
inventive apparatus includes an audible alarm member which is placed on the ski,
preferably releasably, and a remote hand-held trigger or activator member held
by the skier. The skier can trigger the alarm member by operating a switch on
the remote activator member. The sound emitted by the alarm will allow the skier
to locate the direction and position of the lost ski after a fall.
Index
6,572,569
Erotic stimulation device
Background: There
exist a number of devices designed to enhance the quality of sexual activity
between partners. Their use is accepted and even promoted by marriage
counselors, sexual educators, physicians and the like as an aid in maintaining a
healthy and satisfying sexual relationship. That the demand for these devices is
substantial is evidenced by the existence of the well-established commercial
industry that manufactures and sells them. Many sexual devices incorporate an
electric vibrator to enhance sexual sensation. A technique, piercing, exists for
attaching jewelry to the tongue. An object with an attached post is fastened to
the tongue by inserting the post through a previously pierced hole then
attaching another object to the other end of the post to prevent the post from
slipping back out. The assembled object has roughly the shape of a dumbbell.
However, this technique has never, to the inventor's knowledge, been used to
attach any electrically powered device, such as a vibrator, to the tongue.
Summary: The sexual aid device of this invention
comprises a battery powered electric vibrator which attaches to the user's
tongue. The first embodiment attaches to the tongue using a post which is
inserted through a hole previously pierced in the tongue. The assembled device
is shaped roughly like a dumbbell. It consists of a post with retainers mounted
at either end. The post has a diameter narrow enough to fit through the tongue
hole, but the retainers have larger diameter and cannot slip through the hole.
At least one of the retainers have larger diameter and cannot slip through the
hole. At least one of the retainers must be removable to allow device insertion.
An electric vibration generator is incorporated into one of the retainers. An
electric battery may be mounted in the same retainer as the vibration generator
or in the other retainer.
Index ================================================== ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND
NOTICES Access this week's Official
Gazette http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week22/OG/index2.htm
Excerpt
from OG Notices
Status of Office of Public Records Services
Certificates of Correction
Index ================================================== PATENTS AVAILABLE FOR
LICENSING
to Learn More or to List a Patent
Plug-and-play smart data
cable The invention includes a smart, plug-and-play cable capable of
transparently translating between two different communication protocols. The
cables are "plug-and-play" such that two devices can be coupled together for
communication without the requirement that the user perform any special set-up
steps in order for it to work. To implement this plug-and-play functionality,
the smart cable of the present invention determines which communication
protocols are required at each of its ports, and selects, activates, enables, or
downloads the appropriate communication protocol drivers to enable proper
operation.
Financial screening system In an on-line financial
screening service, a database of financial and intellectual property information
is searched to find at least one financial security matching user defined
financial search criteria. Selection preferences for a financial security are
defined as search criteria. The databases are repeatedly searched for records
matching the financial selection criteria preferences of the user. Financial
securities meeting the users search criteria are then matched to an intellectual
property database to determine the number of patents a financial security has
been issued.
Index ================================================== PATENT EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
to List a Job
Patent Related Jobs from Monster
Patent Related Jobs from www.IntelPropLaw.com
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