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GEN-ERIC Patent News Tuesday, August 3,
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 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 ================================================== 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.
Index 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.
Index ================================================== 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.
Index ================================================== ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND
NOTICES Access this week's Official
Gazette http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week31/OG/index2.htm
Excerpt
from OG Notices
Fiscal Year 2004 BPAI Receipts and Dispositions by Groups Ex Parte Appeals
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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