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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
6,681,031
Gesture-controlled interfaces for
self-service machines and other applications
Abstract: A gesture
recognition interface for use in controlling self-service machines and other
devices is disclosed. A gesture is defined as motions and kinematic poses
generated by humans, animals, or machines. Specific body features are tracked,
and static and motion gestures are interpreted. Motion gestures are defined as a
family of parametrically delimited oscillatory motions, modeled as a
linear-in-parameters dynamic system with added geometric constraints to allow
for real-time recognition using a small amount of memory and processing time. A
linear least squares method is preferably used to determine the parameters which
represent each gesture. Feature position measure is used in conjunction with a
bank of predictor bins seeded with the gesture parameters, and the system
determines which bin best fits the observed motion. Recognizing static pose
gestures is preferably performed by localizing the body/object from the rest of
the image, describing that object, and identifying that description. The
disclosure details methods for gesture recognition, as well as the overall
architecture for using gesture recognition to control of devices, including
self-service machines. Index
6,678,981
Fender with indicium
Background and
Summary: A trailer typically includes one or more pairs of wheels
and a plurality of fenders that at least partially enclose the wheels of the
trailer. The fenders typically have a curved upper surface and flat side walls.
Although the walls and upper surface of the fender perform the primary function
of protecting the wheels of the trailer, they presently are not otherwise
utilized. A need exists for a fender that usefully employs its external surface
area. A need also exists for a trailer that includes such fenders. In accordance
with one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fender having at
least one surface, and at least one indicium disposed on said surface.
Preferably, the inventive fender includes a curved upper portion and at least
one side wall, more preferably two side walls, and at least one indicium
disposed on at least one of said curved upper portion and said at least one side
wall. In a preferred embodiment, the indicium is an advertisement for a product
or service. More preferably, the advertisement is disposed on an area which
encompasses substantially the entire surface area of the at least one surface.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a
combination of a trailer and at least one fender as described herein.
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
Changes to the Patent Statute
Reissue Applications Filed
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.
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