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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, June 17, 2003

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HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The Fishy Patent of the Day goes to Sun Microsystems, Inc. of California
for a Method and apparatus for encoding license parameters within a license number for authentication purposes
(Encoding License Numbers has been known for some time)
(Here's some Prior Art that I think would obviate this patent)
http://www.maa.org/mathland/mathtrek_10_19_98.html

You can Generate Driver's License Numbers from this Link
http://www.highprogrammer.com/alan/numbers/dl_us_shared.html

The Donation Patent of the Day goes to an Inventor from Des Moines
for a Method of charitable giving/investing
    Index
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NEWS
JVC ordered to pay $30 mil to Honeywell in patent case
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=4&id=263160
A jury in Minnesota has ordered Victor Co of Japan Ltd (JVC) to pay $30 million to Honeywell International Ltd. in a patent infringement case involving autofocus camera technology, an official of the U.S. aerospace giant said Friday. Honeywell filed a federal lawsuit against JVC with the district court in Minnesota in 1999, claiming that the Japanese company used its autofocus camera technology in an unauthorized manner. A judge is expected to issue a ruling later this year. JVC ordered to pay $30 mil to Honeywell in patent case.
    Index
Cree Files Patent Suit Against AXT
http://www.e-insite.net/eb-mag/index.asp?layout=article&articleid=CA305092&spacedesc=news
Cree Lighting Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cree Inc., has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against AXT Inc., an opto-electronic semiconductor player. In the suit, the solid-state technology company claims its patent relating to semiconductor devices manufactured using a gallium nitride-based buffer technology is being violated. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,686,738, entitled "Highly Insulating Monocrystalline Gallium Nitride Thin Films," is owned by Boston University and licensed to Cree on an exclusive basis. Boston University is a co-plaintiff in the action, Cree said.
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Compuware, IBM, fail to reach agreement in lawsuit
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/6107372.htm
The case stems from claims by Compuware, leveled in a March 2002 lawsuit, in which it said IBM had copied its software products and was reselling them under the IBM nameplate. A second Compuware suit filed in July 2002 said IBM used its dominance in the market to undercut competitors on software prices. Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM has denied the charges and filed six counterclaims of patent infringement on its software by Compuware.
    Index
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PATENTS OF THE DAY

6,581,044

Method and apparatus for encoding license parameters within a license number for authentication purposes

Background: A system that generates a license number based upon license parameters so that the license number can be authenticated by establishing that the license number was generated using the license parameters. The system operates by receiving the license parameters from a person requesting a license. The system encodes these license parameters into a license number so that the license parameters can be restored by decoding the license number. Next, the system facilitates printing of the license for the person requesting the license. Note that this printed license includes the license number. The system authenticates the license by receiving the license number, and decoding the license number to restore the license parameters. Next, the system displays the license parameters to a person authenticating the license, and then allows the person authenticating the license to verify the license parameters against information from a photo ID provided by a license holder.

Index

6,581,041

Method of charitable giving/investing

Abstract: In an effort to increase charitable giving, a method of systematically linking investing with giving by designing a fee structure within an investment whereby a part of the fee is automatically transferred to a donor-advised account within a charitable community foundation. A charitable liaison will usually introduce a donor to this process of charitable giving/investing. In addition, the donor will often have an investment advisor. Both the charitable liaison and the investment advisor will receive a part of the fee associated with the investment. If the form of investment is a mutual fund, then the fund manager will also be compensated from a part of the fee. In an alternative method, a credit card or debit card may also be utilized to systematically link charitable giving with consumer purchases. In the credit/debit card context, a part of the fee equal to the difference between what a consumer charges and what the card issuer pays to the merchant is given to a charitable community foundation and directed to a donor-advised account within such foundation.