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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, July 29, 2003

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HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The MEMS Pixel Patent of the Day goes to Flixel Ltd. of Israel
for a Micro-mechanical flat-panel display

The Smart Catalog Patent of the Day goes to Treetop Ventures LLC of New York
for a Method for determining if a publication has not been read
    Index
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NEWS
Microsoft Pays Immersion $26 Million
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030729/APF/307290699
Settling a David-and-Goliath legal battle, tiny Immersion Corp. on Monday said software giant Microsoft Corp. will pay $26 million to license technology that brings a more realistic touch to the Xbox video-game system. The agreement represents a coup for Immersion, a San Jose-based company with just $20 million in revenue after a decade in business. Microsoft's $26 million payment includes $6 million earmarked for a roughly 10 percent stake in Immersion. Immersion also has a 48-month option to require Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft to buy $9 million of convertible debt.
    Index
TI vows to fight Qualcomm patent suit
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/07/28/HNtiqualcomm_1.html
Texas Instruments (TI) said Monday that it plans to "vigorously" contest a lawsuit rival Qualcomm Inc. filed against it, alleging breach of a patent and licensing agreement involving cell phone chip technology. TI said Monday that it has reviewed the complaint and considers it "without merit." Furthermore, the Dallas, Texas, chip maker alleged that Qualcomm's suit was motivated by TI's recent announcement that it would begin sampling CDMA2000 1X chips to customers. CDMA, or code division multiple access, is a digital wireless technology originally developed by Qualcomm which converts speech into digital information which is then transmitted as a radio signal over a wireless network.
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Quantum Conveyor Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Ermanco
http://newsroom.eworldwire.com/view_release.php?id=1546
Quantum Conveyor Systems, Inc. announced that on July 9, 2003, it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against SI Handling Systems, Inc., Ermanco, Inc. and Paragon Technologies, Inc. (collectively, “Ermanco”), in Newark, New Jersey in the U.S. District Court. The complaint charges that various Ermanco NBS sortation products infringe the claims of at least two patents owned by Quantum. The complaint also seeks a court order permanently stopping Ermanco from infringing the Quantum patents. In addition to the patent infringement claims, the complaint also charges Ermanco with breach of contract, unfair competition and other violations of law.
    Index
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PATENTS OF THE DAY

6,600,474

Micro-mechanical flat-panel display

Abstract: A visual display is provided comprising a plurality of pixels each of which comprises: a surface having an area less than one square millimiter comprising first and second regions having surface finishes; and a thin planar panel having first and second sides having surface finishes, wherein the panel is rotatably coupled to the surface so as to rotate between a first and a second position about an axis parallel to the surface; wherein the panel in the first position is positioned over the first region with its second side facing the first region and wherein in the second position the panel is positioned over the second region with its first side facing the second region.

Index

6,600,419

Method for determining if a publication has not been read

Abstract: A system and method for monitoring and for obtaining statistical information about the level of readership of promotional materials, includes providing with promotional materials RF ID tags which only become deactivated when a reader has opened the promotional material. Non-opened promotional material which has been discarded is scanned with a receiver/scanner device which identifies the promotional material pieces that have not been opened, including, optionally, the identity of the addressees who have not opened the promotional materials. Thus, statistical information and profile information is developed which improves the ability of targeting individuals for receipt of promotional materials.