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GEN-ERIC Patent News Tuesday, April 6,
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 Credit Chat Patent of the Day goes
to Next Card, Inc. of San Francisco for a Integrating
live chat into an online credit card application
The Kick
Me Patent of the Day goes to an Marty Gilman, Inc. of Connecticut for a
Method and apparatus for emulating the kicking of an object
Index ================================================== NEWS BJ Services Wins Final
Appeal on $101 Million Patent Infringement Award http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/April2004/05/c8133.html BJ
Services Company announced today that the United States Supreme Court has denied
a request from Halliburton to hear its appeal of a $101 million judgment in
favor of BJ. The original award was issued in April of 2002 by a Houston
District Court following a unanimous jury verdict. In August of 2003, a
three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit unanimously
affirmed the judgment. No further appeals are available to Halliburton. The
judgment has accrued interest during the appeals process and now totals over
$106 million. BJ expects Halliburton to satisfy this judgment promptly. BJ
anticipates recording an estimated gain in the range of $55 - $58 million, after
taxes, for its quarter ending June 30, 2004, for this income. BJ filed this
lawsuit in March of 2000 seeking damages for Halliburton's infringement of BJ's
Vistar(R) system, a patented method of fracturing oil and gas formations with a
low polymer fracturing fluid. Index Sun, Microsoft Promise
End to Patent Feud http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1561361,00.asp Intellectual
property and patents are at the heart of the $1.6 billion settlement between Sun
Microsystems Inc. and Microsoft Corp., with more than half of Microsoft's
payments to Sun coming from patent disputes involving Java technology. While the
settlement announced on Friday ends Sun's antitrust litigation against
Microsoft, it also ends a dispute over infringement on Java technology patents
that played a role both in the latest case Sun had filed against Microsoft in
2002 and the one the companies settled in 2001, a Sun spokeswoman said.
Index Kyphon Sues Disc-O-Tech for Patent Infringement http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040402005501&newsLang=en Kyphon
Inc. (Nasdaq:KYPH) today announced that it has filed a patent infringement suit
against Disc-O-Tech Medical Technologies Ltd., an Israel-based company doing
business in the United States as Disc Orthopaedic Technologies Inc.
("Disc-O-Tech"), in the United States District Court in Delaware. In addition,
Kyphon will file a second patent infringement suit against Disc-O-Tech in the
International Trade Commission on Monday, April 5, 2004. Kyphon's complaints
allege, among other things, that by importing and promoting its SKy Bone
Expander System for use in kyphoplasty procedures, Disc-O-Tech is infringing at
least four of Kyphon's U.S. patents, numbers 4,969,888, 5,108,404, 6,235,043 and
6,248,110, all of which generally concern the use of various medical devices to
repair spinal compression fractures. Kyphon has asked the United States District
Court to award damages and a permanent injunction to prevent Disc-O-Tech's
further infringement and will ask the International Trade Commission to exclude
Disc-O-Tech's infringing products from the U.S. market.
Index ================================================== PATENTS OF THE DAY
6,718,313
Integrating live chat into an
online credit card application
Abstract: A system
and method are described for providing on line chat help to an applicant. An
application identifier and a chat applet are inserted into a web page. The web
page is sent to the applicant. The chat applet is configured to determine based
on an event that the applicant could benefit from online chat and, upon such
determination, to send a request to a chat server for a connection and to
include the application identifier with the request.
Index
6,715,477
Method and apparatus for emulating
the kicking of an object
Abstract: An
apparatus that simulates punting and place kicking of a ball includes a
prosthetic leg having a mechanism in the foot region to seat a ball. The leg is
pivotally-mounted to a frame and mechanically coupled with a foot pedal.
Downward force on the foot pedal is translated to the leg causing the leg to
whip upward and launching the ball with proportional force and speed. In one
embodiment, the frame is collapsible/expandable and includes a roller to
facilitate transportation. In another embodiment, the leg is formed of pliable
material to eliminate the risk of injury in the event of collision therewith.
Index ================================================== ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND
NOTICES Access this week's Official
Gazette http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week14/OG/index2.htm
Excerpt
from OG Notices
New USPTO Policies
Responses to Office Actions
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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