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RETURN to News Archive ================================================== Copyright(c) 1998-2003 GEN-ERIC Channel. All rights reserved. GEN-ERIC Patent News Tuesday, January 20, 2004 ================================================== Use Quick Links to Access any Area of Interest Headlines News Patents of the Day Access Official Gazette and Notices Patents Available for Licensing Patent Related Opportunities Printer Friendly Version ================================================== HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..) The Making Faces Patent of the Day goes to Cybernet Systems Corporation of Michigan for a Gesture-controlled interfaces for self-service machines and other applications The Mobile Advertising Patent of the Day goes to U-Haul International, Inc. of Arizona for a Fender with indicium Index ================================================== NEWS Judge sides with Schick in patent case http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/01/16/judge_sides_with_schick_in_patent_case/ A federal judge denied Gillette's request for a preliminary injunction to block Schick-Wilkinson Sword from selling its new, four-bladed Quattro razor, and found no reasonable likelihood Gillette's patent case would succeed on one of its key claims. Quattro hit shelves in September, but its prospects were clouded by Gillette's argument that the four-blade arrangement was too close to a three-bladed system patented by Gillette. In a highly technical, 14-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris said Gillette failed to meet the standard required for a preliminary injunction and that Gillette would be unlikely to prevail at trial on its claim of literal infringement. Gillette, which has claimed it spent $750 million to develop its Mach3 razors, said it planned both to appeal and pursue other claims. Index Domain registrars sued over URL patent http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-5141810.html Two Internet entrepreneurs are suing Network Solutions and Register.com for allegedly infringing on their e-mail and domain naming patent. Troy K. Javaher and Frank M. Weyer, operating under the newly formed company Nizza Group, on Monday filed a patent infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in California against the two domain registrars. The suit accuses Network Solutions and Register.com of selling rights to Web URLs and e-mail addresses that infringe on a patent that was granted to Javaher and Weyer on Dec. 30, 2003. The patent covers the method of assigning URLs and e-mail addresses of members of a group such that the "@" sign is the dot in the URL. For example, if a group used a so-called third-level URL, www.john.smith.com, the e-mail address would be john@smith.com. In the complaint, Nizza Group specifically indicates that Network Solutions and Register.com are infringing the patent by selling rights to URLs and e-mail addresses under the .name domain. The .name domain is called a third-level domain, because it uses an extra dot, as in the case of john.smith.name. Even though the database of .name domains is owned and operated by Global Name Registry (GNR), it was not named in the lawsuit. Index Numbers of patent, trademark infringement suits skyrocketing http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/business/article/0,2071,NPDN_14901_2586798,00.html According to the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts, the number of patent suits grew from 1,553 in 1993 to 2,700 in 2002, a 74 percent increase. In 2002, trademark suits filed in the United States swelled to 3,470, a 61.5 percent increase over a decade ago. In 1993, they numbered 2,149. In 2002, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Washington, D.C., approved a record number of patents — nearly 184,000. Of that total, 91 percent — or 167,334 — were utility patents. The most common patents are utility patents, which cover industrial or technical processes, machines and other manufactured products. California inventors led the way in claiming more than a 20 percent share in all patents issued to U.S. residents in 2002. They were followed by New York residents. In 2002, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office received 355,418 new applications for patents. So it doesn't it appear that patent activity is going to slow any time soon. Index ================================================== PATENTS OF THE DAY
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 Index ================================================== ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND NOTICES Access this week's Official Gazette http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week03/OG/index2.htm Excerpt from OG Notices 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. Electric shaver having orbitally moving blades An electric shaver includes blades which while rotating around their own centers also orbit around another axis, thus providing that the blades sweep a large area. Implantable fuel cell This invention makes use of an electrostrictive material to increase the efficiency of a fuel cell as used for the production of power within a human. Index ================================================== EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES to List a Job Patent Related Jobs from Monster Patent Related Jobs from www.IntelPropLaw.com Index ================================================== GEN-ERIC Channel |