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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, August 3, 2004

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HEADLINES (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The Search Refinement Patent of the Day goes to
Amazon.com, Inc. of Seattle for a
Search query refinement using related search phrases

The Swing Wing Patent of the Day goes to
Neuros Co., LTD of Korea for a
Power-driven ornithopter
    Index
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NEWS
Jury Awards Applied Medical $43.5 Million for Patent Infringement
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040730005101&newsLang=en
An Orange County jury has awarded Applied Medical Resources Corp., $43.5 million because Tyco Unit U.S. Surgical Corp. had infringed Applied's patent. The patent was on a medical device known as a trocar. The jury also found that the infringement was willful, allowing U.S. District Court Judge Cormac Carney to triple the damages and to award Applied its attorney fees. Carney has set a Sept. 20, 2004 hearing to decide those issues. The trocar is used by surgeons to perform laparoscopic surgery. During this procedure, surgeons inflate the abdomen with gas to create a working space. They then insert trocars through which they use various instruments to perform the surgery. Applied's patent is on the sealing mechanism in the trocar which maintains the gas in the abdomen. Applied filed suit in Orange County in 1999. In 1997, Applied had convinced a Virginia jury that U.S. Surgical had willfully infringed the same patent by selling an earlier version of the same product at issue in the Orange County case.
    Index
Proxim Ordered To Pony Up $26M To Symbol
http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=26100572
The U.S. District Court in Delaware Thursday rejected a series of motions and appeals and entered an order for Proxim to pay Symbol Technologies about $26 million to settle a patent infringement case. Of the total, the federal court ordered Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Proxim to pay Holtsville, N.Y.-based Symbol $23 million in damages, plus $3 million in interest. Peter Lieb, senior vice president and general counsel for Symbol, said in a statement that he's pleased with the decision and, unless the court issues a stay or Proxim posts a bond, Symbol would attempt to execute the judgment. A U.S. District Court jury in mid-September 2003 awarded Symbol 6 percent royalties on Proxim's past sales of the infringing WLAN products, which date back to 1995 and include Proxim's Open Air, 802.11 products.
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Linux potentially infringes 283 patents
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5291403.html
Linux potentially infringes 283 patents, including 27 held by Microsoft but none that have been validated by court judgments, according to a group that sells insurance to protect those using or selling Linux against intellectual-property litigation. Dan Ravicher, founder and executive director of the Public Patent Foundation, conducted the analysis for Open Source Risk Management. OSRM is like an insurance company, selling legal protection against Linux copyright-infringement claims. It plans to expand the program to patent protections. Of the 283 patents, 98 are owned by Linux allies, OSRM said, including 60 from IBM, 20 from Hewlett-Packard and 11 from Intel. The months-long review examined versions 2.4 and 2.6 of the kernel, or heart, of Linux, Ravicher said.
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PATENTS OF THE DAY

6,772,150

Search query refinement using related search phrases

Abstract: A search engine system uses information about historical query submissions to a search engine to suggest previously-submitted, related search phrases to users. The related search phrases are preferably suggested based on a most recent set of query submission data (e.g., the last two weeks of submissions), and thus strongly reflect the current searching patterns or interests of users. The system is preferably implemented within a search engine used to locate items that are available for electronic purchase, but may be implemented within other types of search engines. In one embodiment, the related search phrases are scored and selected for display based at least in-part on an evaluation of the "usefulness" of each search phrase, as reflected by actions performed by prior users while viewing the corresponding search results.

Index

6,769,949

Power-driven ornithopter

Abstract: An ornithopter with an airframe structure that is lightweight, simple and stable and can generate sufficient lift and thrust. The ornithopter comprises a body, a main wing attached to an upper portion of a front section of the body, and a tail wing attached to a rear section of the body. The ornithopter further comprises a power source and a power transmission mechanism installed within a housing of the body. The main wing includes a wing frame composed of a plurality of frame rods and a skin attached to the wing frame for forming an outline of the main wing. The wing frame of the main wing is supported by a support means exposed to the outside at the upper portion of the front section of the body. The power transmission mechanism includes a gear train for adjusting the rotational motion of the power source at a proper speed and transferring it to the main wing, and connecting rods for converting the rotational motion into a swing motion of the main wing. Flight time of the ornithopter can be prolonged considering its weight and the power source can be easily manipulated.