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GEN-ERIC Patent News
Tuesday, August 10, 2004


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HEADLINES   (patents issued a few hours ago..)
The DNA Data Patent of the Day goes to
ZymoGenetics, Inc. of Seattle for a
Method and system for detecting near identities in large DNA databases

The Boy or Girl Patent of the Day goes to
Independent Inventors from South Carolina for a
Method and kit for increasing the chances of conceiving a child having a desired gender

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NEWS
Google pays Yahoo $300 million in settlement
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/ap20040809_1330.html

Online search engine leader Google Inc. will surrender more than $300 million of its stock to Yahoo Inc. in a settlement that removes a legal threat hanging over its IPO at the expense of enriching a nettlesome rival. The agreement announced Monday gives Yahoo an additional 2.7 million shares of Google stock in exchange for dropping a patent lawsuit involving a crucial piece of online advertising technology. The payment also resolves a dispute over how much Sunnyvale-based Yahoo is owed under an old partnership between the two companies. The settlement is worth about $328 million, based on the midpoint in the $108- to $135-per share range that Google has established for its highly anticipated initial public offering.

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Forgent Networks Sues An Additional 11 Companies for Patent Infringement
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20040806005303&newsLang=en

Forgent(TM) Networks (Nasdaq:FORG) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Compression Labs, Inc., has initiated litigation against 11 companies for infringement of United States Patent No. 4,698,672 (the '672 Patent) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. The defendants are: Acer America Corporation, AudioVox Corporation (Nasdaq:VOXX), BancTec, Inc., BenQ America Corporation, Color Dreams, Inc. (d/b/a StarDot Technologies), Google Inc., ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSFT), Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW), TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq:TIVO), Veo Inc., Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO). In April 2004, Compression Labs initiated litigation against 31 companies for infringement of the '672 Patent in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. In July 2004, 24 of these same defendants sued Forgent and Compression Labs in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware seeking declaratory relief of non-infringement, invalidity and unenforceability of the '672 Patent.

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Competitive Technologies Wins Homocysteine Case
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040805/nyth137_1.html

Competitive Technologies, Inc. (Amex: CTT - News) announced today that the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) ruled in favor of CTT and its clients against Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings' (LabCorp) (NYSE: LH - News). The CAFC has denied LabCorp's petition for a rehearing or rehearing en banc win of the homocysteine assay patent infringement case. On June 8, 2004 the CAFC had affirmed the August 2003 decision of the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado (CDC) in favor of CTT and its clients against LabCorp. Pursuant to the CDC order and judgment, CTT, the University of Colorado and Columbia University had been awarded $2.1, and CTT's licensee, Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. was awarded $4.5 million in damages and interest in this five-year-old case. CTT expects to receive approximately $1 million of the total award. LabCorp previously posted a $6.6 million bond to stay execution of the monetary judgment by the CDC and to stay a permanent injunction from performing homocysteine assays.

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PATENTS OF THE DAY
6,775,622 Method and system for detecting near identities in large DNA databases
Abstract:  The present invention provides a solution to the needs described above through a system and method for efficiently detecting near identities in large DNA databases. The system and method disclosed herein make use of an algorithm used to construct and maintain unique DNA databases wherein the unique database contains no two DNA sequences such that one is nearly identical to a region of the other. The system and method are applicable to problems such as an all against all comparison of all the DNA sequences in a large DNA database, clustering and assembling ESTs into the cDNAs that generated the ESTs, mapping assembled ESTs onto genomic sequence, mapping cDNAs onto genomic sequences and locating alternately spliced cDNAs.

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6,773,726 Method and kit for increasing the chances of conceiving a child having a desired gender
Abstract:  A method is provided to take advantage of naturally occurring factors that influence gender selection in such a way as to create a bias to conceive a specific gender. This is accomplished by teaching a woman how to recognize the various stages of her menstrual cycle and how and when to use ovulation predictor reagent strips to accurately predict when ovulation will occur. Specific instructions are provided as to when a couple should engage in intercourse. The method for influencing the chances of conceiving a child of a selected gender includes the steps of following a selected diet; supplementing said diet with selected nutriceuticals; douching with a selected douche prior to intercourse; and selectively timing intercourse.

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ACCESS OFFICIAL GAZETTE AND NOTICES
Access this week's Official Gazette
http://www.uspto.gov/web/patents/patog/week32/OG/index2.htm

Excerpt from OG Notices

  • Requests for Ex Parte Reexamination
  • 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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