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GEN-ERIC Patent News Tuesday, March 30,
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 Wireless Buddy Patent of the Day goes
to America Online, Inc. of Virginia for a Method and
system for instant messaging across cellular networks and a public data network
The Kick the Habit Patent of the Day goes to
an Independent Inventor from Atlanta for a Smoking Timer
Index ================================================== NEWS HP sues Gateway for patent
infringement http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4609097/ Hewlett-Packard Co. filed a
patent infringement lawsuit Thursday against Gateway Inc., alleging its rival
refused to pay licensing fees on six H-P patented designs. Alleged culprits
included laptop hinges, keyboards that require passwords -- even the cursor that
points to icons on a computer's video display. According to H-P attorneys who
filed in San Diego federal court, Poway, Calif.-based Gateway paid licensing
fees from 1994 to 1999 to Compaq Computer Corp., which H-P acquired in 2001.
After the first licensing agreement expired in 1999, H-P attorneys say, Gateway
kept using patented designs but did not pay for them. Some of the patent
infringement claims in H-P's lawsuit involve eMachines Inc., which Gateway
acquired March 11.
Index Chip designer accuses Intel, Dell of patent
violations http://news.com.com/2100-1006-5180716.html A chip design company
that was once one of Silicon Valley's highfliers filed a patent infringement
suit Friday against Intel and Dell, contending the companies have copied its
technology for multimedia computing. The lawsuit was filed in Federal District
Court in Marshall, Texas, by MicroUnity Systems Engineering, which was founded
in 1988 by John Moussouris, a physicist and computer designer. Intel and Dell
executives declined to comment. Several industry executives, however, said that
the lawsuit could be troubling for the two companies. The lawsuit is being
brought by the same legal team that sued Intel on behalf of Intergraph, a maker
of microprocessors in Huntsville, Ala. Intel has so far paid Intergraph $150
million in that lawsuit. Index Pay By Touch Loses Motion
to Dismiss in $20 Million Patent Infringement Lawsuit http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=SVBIZINK3.story&STORY=/www/story/03-29-2004/0002136980&EDATE=MON+Mar+29+2004,+08:09+PM Pay
By Touch (or PayByTouch, formerly Solidus and Indivos) of San Francisco, CA has
lost its major motion to dismiss in the $20 Million patent infringement lawsuit
filed against Pay By Touch by plaintiff Excel Innovations, Inc. of San Jose, CA.
The lawsuit, pending in San Francisco Federal Court, Northern District of
California and expected to reach trial in late 2004 or early 2005, cites Pay By
Touch for infringing 18 United States Patents and seeks damages in excess of $20
Million. Excel further cites Pay By Touch for willful infringement, exposing Pay
By Touch to liability for treble damages of more than $60 Million. The lawsuit
is being closely watched by the financial and retail industries, as consumers
have shown growing interest in the "tokenless biometric payment system" at issue
in the case. Additionally, the lawsuit provides public notice to retailers and
distributors that participating with Pay By Touch exposes these companies to
significant financial liability for contributory infringement.
Index ================================================== PATENTS OF THE DAY
6,714,793
Method and system for instant
messaging across cellular networks and a public data network
Abstract: A method,
system and computer program product for instant message communication in a
wireless and non-wireless environment. A message is sent from a mobile unit
device over a wireless communication network. The message includes a destination
address, information associated with the mobile unit device's user, message
content and message address. If, according to information previously stored for
the mobile unit device's user at the instant message system, the destination
address is associated with an instant message function, the associated instant
message function is executed at the instant message system using the information
contained in the message content, if required as determined by the associated
instant message function. If, according to information previously stored for the
mobile unit device's user at the instant message system, the destination address
is associated with an instant message name, an instant message is created
according to the message content and is sent to the user with the associated
instant message name. For instant messages sent or received by a mobile unit
device with known buddies, the instant message is optimized by tagging the
instant message with a routing phone number that is unique to the mobile unit
device and buddy combination, whose identity is stored both in the mobile unit
device address book and in the instant message routing server.
Index
6,712,075
Smoking Timer
Abstract: What I
believe is a totally new way to help the people addicted to smoking cigarettes
to quit the habit by spacing the time between smokes and preventing the
unconscious reach for one by means of a case or container for the cigarettes
with a timing mechanism that will not open the container until a pre-determined
time is reached. That timing mechanism can be reset from a few minutes to
several hours therefore gradually reducing the absorption of nicotine until the
craving for it is negligible and quitting the habit is easy.
Index ================================================== ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND
NOTICES Access this week's Official
Gazette http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week13/OG/index2.htm
Excerpt
from OG Notices
Reclassification Alert Report
Changes to Representation Before the USPTO
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
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Patent Related Jobs from Monster
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