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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, March 9, 2004

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HEADLINES   (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The Cyber Tracking Patent of the Day goes to
America Online, Inc. of Virginia for
Toolbar tracking

The Tao of Dimension Patent of the Day goes to an
Independent Inventor from Connecticut for a
Yang-yin emblem
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NEWS
ODMC Receives $15 Million Verdict Against Amazon.com and others in Patent Infringement Suit
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040305005524&newsLang=en
On Demand Machine Corporation, a St. Louis based, development stage company, announced today that it has received a patent infringement jury verdict in its favor against Ingram Industries, Inc., Lightning Source, Inc. and Amazon.com in Federal District court in St. Louis. The patent was invented by Harvey Ross, the founder of ODMC. Mr. Ross started work on his invention in 1990 at the age of 69. His patent was granted in 1995. In 2001, the Patent Office, in an reexamination, confirmed the validity of the claims upon which the suit was based. Mr. Ross died in January 2002, shortly after the lawsuit was filed. The jury also found, by clear and convincing evidence, that Ingram's, Lightning's and Amazon's infringement was willful. The court could increase the damage up to $45,000,000, plus interest and award ODMC its attorney fees. Additionally, ODMC has asked the court to issue an injunction to prevent future infringement.
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Boise software company pays $2 million to settle patent lawsuit
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/03/07/business/news/3_6_0420_07_12.txt
Software company Extended Systems will pay $2 million to California's Intellisync Corp. to settle a patent infringement lawsuit. The settlement announced Thursday ends a two-year legal battle that was scheduled for trial next month. Last month, company executives warned investors that attorney fees would rise by another $1 million as the trial date neared. "We are very pleased this is behind us so everything our employees work on going forward is to the benefit of our customers and shareholders," Extended Systems President Charles Jepson said. Intellisync, a San Jose company formerly called Pumatech, sued the Boise wireless software firm for patent infringement in April 2002. In a press release issued jointly by both companies, Extended Systems acknowledged the validity of Intellisync's patents.
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Eolas patent rejected, but decision not seen as final
http://www.itworld.com/Man/2687/040308eolaspatent/
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected the validity of a patent licensed to Eolas Technologies Inc. which was at the heart of a patent infringement judgement against Microsoft Corp. last August. The office's finding is not final, however, and is being appealed. The patent, held by the University of California Regents and licensed exclusively to Chicago-based Eolas, covers technology for embedding interactive elements into Web pages, a common practice on the Internet. In the case last August, a Chicago jury ordered Microsoft to pay US$521 million for infringing the patent in its Internet Explorer browser. Microsoft has appealed that ruling. In November, the patent office decided to review the patent after Tim Berners-Lee, the director of the World Wide Web Consortium, wrote to U.S. Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property James Rogan. The patent office has conducted only 151 such re-examinations since 1988, despite having issued nearly four million patents in that time.
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PATENTS OF THE DAY
6,704,031 Toolbar tracking
Summary:  In one general aspect, a graphical user interface toolbar is tracked by establishing a connection to a client; receiving a token including a unique tracking number corresponding to a toolbar item function from the client; and registering use of the toolbar item function. Implementations may include registering a time stamp corresponding to selection of the toolbar item function; registering elapsed time between successive selections of different toolbar item functions; registering a user account corresponding to selection of the toolbar item function; generating toolbar utilization data; and modifying the graphical user interface toolbar based on the toolbar utilization data. The toolbar utilization data may include frequency at which a particular toolbar item function was selected during a period of time; percentage of users utilizing a particular toolbar item function; and the number of different toolbar items utilized by a particular account. The graphical user interface toolbar may include a menu bar, an icon bar, and/or a navigation bar. The menu bar may include multiple menu item buttons associated with a corresponding pull-down menu. The icon bar may include multiple icons configured to initiate a particular function associated with the icon. A navigation bar may include multiple navigation buttons, a text box, and/or one or more action buttons.

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6,702,583 Yang-yin emblem
Summary:  The present invention provides a three-dimensional representation of the yang-yin principle whereby the principle may be experienced through sight as well as touch, and wherein a three-dimensional representation in the form of a pendant, for example, serves as a constant reminder of the bipolar nature of cosmic energy, facilitates meditation of intuitive realization of being one with the Tao, sensing large and small manifestations of oneness with the Tao, and harmonizing the yang-yin energies in the body.

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ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND NOTICES
Access this week's Official Gazette
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week10/OG/index2.htm

Excerpt from OG Notices
  • Requests for Ex Parte Reexamination Filed
  • Reissue Applications Filed
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    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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