Financial Markets D5 Mutual Funds D6-D- 7 0 Local Business D7 Tuesday, April 23, 1SS3 The Daily Herald 3,000 at Mitsubishi rally to decry EEOC suit 0 April 22, 1996 AMEX NYSE DOW (Industrials) By NANCY MILLMAN V NYSEDiarv S&P 500 1,473 New highs Advances: IW5 avg. comp. vol.: 422.909.M0 Declines: 923 Unchanged: 747 Total issues: 3.143 . m, Voume. 143 . New low 3 80,380 G WASHINGTON (AP) World finance leaders approved touch new economic reporting standards designed to avert future financial problems. Mexican-styl- e warned also private investors They not to count on a bailout during the next financial catastrophe to strike the global economy. Finance ministers attending the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund on Monday endorsed new IMF standards designed to improve the quality and timeliness of reporting on 7 categories of financial statistics ranging from inflation and 181-nati- 1 to currency unemployment reserves and trade deficits. Officials said 25 nations, primarithat are raising funds through those ly international capital markets, have already signaled their willingness to abide by the new standards. The (AP) Supreme Court refused to rule s out possible WASHINGTON punitive-damage- aw ards for more than 2.(XK) people contending they were hurt by a 1979 nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor. The court, without comment, rejected on Monday an appeal by corporations that owned, operated and supplied materials or sen ices to the Pennsylvania plant, site of the nation's worst commercial nuclear mishap. DETROIT (AP) General Motors Corp.'s profits took a big hit in the first quarter because of last month's strike at two Ohio parts plants, which virtually shut down the automaker's North American production. The world's largest automaker earned SI. 02 billion, or 94 cents a share, in the January March period, down 52 percent from S2. billion, or S2.44 a share, a year ago. Revenue fell 4 percent to S4I.7 billion from $43. 3 billion. The results included an aftertax cost of $900 million, or S .20 a United Auto share, for the Workers strike at two GM parts plants in Dayton. Ohio. The strike idled 26 of the company's 29 North American assembly plants. -- 1 1 1 Cisco SAN JOSE. Calif. ( AP) Systems Inc.. the largest maker of machines to link computers, said it will pay S4 billion for StrataCom Inc.. extending its prominence in mo ing voice, v ideo and data across private networks to public ones. The deal is the latest merger in the network equipment business, the fastest-growin- g part of the computer industry. The merger w ill make Cisco the first company to provide all the technology necessary to move a wide range of data over many different kinds of networks. John Chambers. Cisco's chairman and chief executive, said on Mondav. KANSAS CITY. Mo. (AP) Kansas City Power & Light Co. rejected an unsolicited SI. 7 billion merger offer from Western Resources Inc. as and certainly d, Drue Jennings, the chairman of KCPL. also said Monday that Western's proposal is based on faulty estimates of savings from a merger. He reaffirmed his company's commitment to merge with UtiliCorp United Inc. Briefly A PORTLAND. Ore. (AP) settleS275 million class-actio- n ment will allow some 800.000 homeowners in North America to replace a brand of siding that turns soggy in wet weather. Under terms of the deal reached Mondav. any homeowner whose Corp. Inner-Sesiding becomes damaged Louisiana-Pacifi- c al Performance be able to dip into the settlement fund for the cost of replacing the material. The lawsuit said the siding, w hich resembles cedar but is made of wood chips and resin covered d with paper, soaks up moisture, swells and cracks. Louisiana-Pacifi- c maintains up to 90 percent of the problems can be traced to improper installation and maintenance. It is estimated that the 2.7 billion board feet of siding produced bv the company was used on about 8VJ.(MX) homes in the United States and Canada. e The number for complaints is of key stock Amsterdam Ak. ..546 Milan 9932 66 rma 1.0o Brussels 124 bk 49. iwi Paris 63 Frankfurt 2092 45 hk ri:iTM 0.2 markets Previous close Percent change over the next seven years would ri!ML!3 1.2 Sydney 2536 52 0 liiHil 4o 2265 8 ESH3 0.07 resin-soake- toll-fre- Hong Kong Tokyo 1061849 London 01. Zurich 3857 3628 1 1 777-- 1 AmstHm MARKETS BruiS 21883 84 8 CBS-ne- F'anfc'ut OAX Hoog Kong Many o Seng IcyxKm FT 100 Put CAC-4R 2uncr Cwt Su$se Sydney M'n V 8 na not iiokdjy 20 Nki !oI!aicr,ota!c Harriot G LONDON (AP) The U.S. currency was trading at 106.68 Japanese yen. up from 106.63 late Monday. Earlier in Tokyo, the dollar was trading at 106.22 yen. down 0.40 yen from late Mondav in Tokyo and also below its late New York level of 106.65 yen. Other dollar rates in Europe compared with late Monday .5 76 German marks, up 1.5157; 1.2285 Swiss francs, up from 1.2263; 5.1375 French francs, up from 5.1285; 1. 6 I Dutch guilders, up from 1.6949; .55 1. 05 Italian lire, down from 1.552.36; 1.3628 Canadian dollars, up from 1.3623. The British pound was quoted at S .5 09 down from SI. 5 25 late Monday. The Mexican peso was at 7.3800. down from 7.3850 Monday. London dealers fixed a recommended gold price of $391.45 per ounce, down from Monday's closing price of $391.50. In Zurich, the bid price was 9 1 1 1 1 Mitsubishi workers wore CHICAGO 4 S&P MidCap. Chicago Tribune NASDAQ S.WI.50. up from S39I.25 late Mondav. Gold rose 70 cents to $391.65 i.i Hong Kong. Silver traded in Lt ndon at S5.33 a troy ounce, up from $5.30 late Monday. NONFKKROL'S METAI-- S AluNEW YORK (AP) minum 70.7 cents per lb. London Metal Exch. Mon. Copper - $ .2900 Cathode full plate. U.S. destinations. Copper - SI. 2370 per lb. NY Merc spot Mon. Lead - 52 cents per 15 per lb. delivlb. Zinc - .4963-.5- 1 ered. Tin $4.3200 Fri. Metals Week composite price per lb. Gild -$391.00 Handy & Harman (only $391.50 Troy daily quHe). Gold o., NY Mere spot month Mon. Silver $5,300 Handy & Harman (only daily quote). Silver $5.32 per troy o.t NY Merc spot month Mon. Mercury - $270.00 per 76 lb flask. $399.00-$401.0- 0 New York. Platinum N.Y. (contract). troy o.. Platinum $415.00 .N.N. Mere spot per troy oa Mon. 1 -- 1 their maroon and gray uniforms proudly as they marched here on Monday morning, but at home in Downstate Normal. 111., they say. the company colors are causing them problems. Close to 3,000 employees of Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America opted to collect their daily pay for riding the 120 miles from the auto plant in buses chartered by the company to protest outside the offices of the federal Equal Employ ment Opportunity Commission. The 1.000 workers who didn't make the journey were to report to the plant as usual, though the production line was shut down for the day. The EEOC this month filed a class-actio- n suit against Mitsubishi for allegedly fostering a hostile environment that permitted what the agency says is w idespread and egregious sexual harassment of female employees. Because of the amount of damages allowed under the law and the prospective number of workers affected, the EEOC says the suit could be the largest of its kind. The national news coverage that followed the EEOC filing has embarrassed employees at the plant, many said Monday. The protest, they say. w as the idea of fellow workers, though the company backed it with funding and organizational help. "Nobody wears their uniforms out anymore." said Darren Hester, a Mitsubishi worker. "All you get are bad looks and rude comments from people. "The press says, 'This is a harasser," Hester said, opening his jacket to show his maroon work shirt. "I am not a harasser." we're here to set the record straight." the protesters chanted as they marched on West Madison Street, which was closed for the demonstration. "I came because I didn't like seeing us all lumped together." with the women and men "Two-four-six-eig- who have comnlained about problems at the company, said Mary Knutson, w ho works in the plant's plastics shop. "The rest of us just keep going to work and home to our families. There may be isolated cases (of harassment), but if (v ictims) go to the said. company, they take care of it," Knutson But the EEOC suit, as well as a private lawsuit filed in 1994 by 25 women workers, alleges that Mitsubishi didn't take care of complaints in the manner required by law. Both suits also charge that women who did report incidents of unwelcome sexual comments, grabbing, sexual advances and other objectionable behavior became objects of further harassment and retaliation, as did men w ho took their side. Police and security guards outside the Citicorp Center permitted a group of five protesters to take a petition to the agency's offices. The workers met with EEOC's Chicago district director John P. Rowe, deputy director Cynthia G. Pierre and regional attorney John C. Provincialism crops up in phone merger By EVAN RAMSTAD AP Business Wnter First there was... The day may NEW YORK come when Bell Atlantic executives look to the rest of the nation but for as a potential market now they can't see west of Virginia. "We have as good a market as we want." Bell Atlantic chairman Ray Smith said Monday after announcing a $23 billion merger with Nynex Corp. that will form one local phone company for 13 eastern states and the District of H? ATCT ATT Long Unas: -- s$ Then there were seven... Columbia. It is a powerful market, includthe corridor of cities northeast ing and more than of the nation's population. Smith called it the ' most information-intensiv- e area on the planet." Bell Atlantic even produced a video in which its celebrity spokesman James Earl Jones boasted of the virtues of the region and its people, such as Another example: affluence. "We go to more movies one-fourt- h itech i i DeJASanOc AT&T broke up in t" Ivan Seidenberg. chief executive of Nynex and vice chairman of the merged company, said a united Bell Atlantic and Nynex will allow the "entire Eastern Seaboard to reassert itself in a very supreme way." appeared provincial Cwporhon J Comccihon I The WASHINGTON (AP) U.S. trade deficit shrank by 17.1 percent in February, reversing part of a huge increase the month before, as American exports of services climbed to an all-tihigh. The Commerce Department said that the deficit in goods and services decreased to S8.2 billion in February, compared to a rev ised January deficit of $9.9 billion. The improvement w as certain to be nailed by the Clinton administration, under increasing fire in an election year for what opponents contend are failed trade policies that have cost millions of American jobs. with Even the February improvement, the deficit for the first two months of this year is running at an annual rate of S 108.4 billion. That is little changed from the 1995 imbalance of SI 1.5 billion, the worst showing in seven years. 1 CZUSOUTH j IIC trarlo in uuuus dim Now there are five. Bel Atlantic Arfieritech ft statements V aimed at their peers at other regional Bell companies, particularly SBC Communications Inc. and Pacific Telesis Group, which announced on April I they would merce in a $16.7 billion deal. Those companies serve the two most populous states. California and Texas, and six others. And their merger s irprised everyone while Bell Atlantic and Nynex have been known to be negotiating for months. But they do not serve regions that are next to each other, the way Bell Atlantic and Nynex do. "We are uniting a natural market, the world's most valuable customer base." Smith said. Both deals hav e draw n criticism vN:jr 1964. creating the Baby Beta and separating and local service. long-distan- first."" Such long distance 22 local phont companies: served 80 percent of the country. V Western Electric: made phones and equipment. C Bel Laboratories: research and development. U.S. trade gap drops; exports at record high Bel Atlantic and Nynex agreed to a $23 billion merger. The new company will be called changes m the government s new trade report, wheh includes trade in services as well as trade in goods The following hsting shows the overall deficit, the deficit n goods and the surplus in services. Intuitions The month Bell Atlantic. f M.7SjSjiu5risyc ffffff Vy ( ommunk-aiiun- s Int. Southwestern Bell and Pacific Telesis wiH merge into a company to be called SBC Communications APftVm from competitors and consumer advocates who say they violate the d spirit of the telecommunications deregulation that w as designed to spur competirecently-enacte- tion. "The public was told the new law would lead to new entrants in i Inpi...,.-.- jjSSJlj ' J ) - - . . J Casiedo every market and instead we are seeing the same old monopolies banding together to prevent competition from developing," said Bradley Stillman, telecommunications policy director at the Consumer Federation of America. FMAMJ J ASONDJF 1995 Sout US ,1996 Dept ofCoflvnwc AP Patents win major victory in federal court lulito-'- s note: Put- - to space liiiiiniticii. in Monthly's paper. "Paienl Pending" will be run- ning in today's edition. "Is it patented?" That's the question many businesses are asking these days when deciding w hether to take on a new product or operation. We are fortunate to live in an era when patents actually mean something. An enforceable patent is the incentive many companies and inventors have for inventing things in the first place. Partly as a result, our standard of living is higher than it has ever been. President Lincoln's observation that "the patent system added the fuel of interest to the fire of genius" means more today than it ever has. Americans are attaining over 250 patents per million residents today compared to 91 patents per million in 1861. the year Lincoln became president. On the home front. I'tah inventors obtained over 6(X) patents in 1995. up from 211 patents in 1983. That amounts to more than 3(X) patents per million residents, ranking l;tah 17th among the 50 states in patents per capita. Perhaps the best thing about our patent system is that it is fair. A patent w ill protect the invention nothing more, nothing less. And the patent laws recognie that inventions can be misappropriated in ways not explicitly described in the patent document. In effect, patent laws have been made to pro- - tect patented inventions from the limitations of language. Under the "doctrine of equivalents." a patent covers the inven- - Karl Cannon yCy Patent Pending lion not only as defined in the patent claim language, but also functional equivalents of the invention. A simple " product still infringes the patent if it performs the same function in the same way to achieve the same result. Competitors who copy patented inventions, making only insubstantial variations from the patent claims, still infringe the patent. However, patents do not stifle creativity because a substantially different way of achieving the same result of a patented invention is deemed "legitimate "design-around- and is allowed. For example. Dolly Inc. patented a portable, adjustable child's chair. The patent claimed a seat panel, a back panel and side panels with channels in which the seat may fit. all held together by a sepa design-around- ." rate rigid frame. Evenflo, a popular baby products company, designed a competing model which had four interlocking panels w ithout a separate rigid frame. Dolly Inc. sued Evenflo for patent infringement and lost in a 1994 federal court decision. Evenflo's chair design did not infringe Dolly's patent because it performed the function of a child's chair in a different w ay by utilizing interlocking panels ithout a separate rigid frame. On the other hand, a copycat design w hich avoids the literal language of a patent should not be allowed to escape patent infringement on a mere technicality. Consider Under Sea Industries' patent on a snorkel purge valve which requires a bypass opening to be w located above the mouthpiece. Although Dacor's competing snorkel did not locate the bypass opening above the mouthpiece, it w as still held to infringe the patent because it performed the purging function in the same way claimed in the patent by purging all water from the top of the snorkel before allowing air to vent from the purge valve. The court correctly decided that Dacor's snorkel was an infringement of Under Sea Industries' patent under the doctrine of equivalents. A recent federal court decision has bolstered the value of patents by further clarifying the doctrine of equivalents. A disturbing trend had developed in lower federal courts w hich appeared to allow "ignorant" infringers to avoid the consequences of infringement. An equivalent to a patented invention would arguably still not infringe the patent unless other subjective conditions existed, such as bad faith motives or a w illful intent to infringe. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stopped this trend dead in its tracks in Hilton Davis Chemical Co. vs. Warner-Jenkin-so-n Co. (1995). The court ruled that patent infringement is to be decided only by considering whether the accused device infringes the patent claims. The defendant's lack of bad faith or improper motive is not relevant to w hether infringement has occurred. Patent infringement is patent infringement, regardless of defendant's lack of intent to infringe. This should come as some comfort to patent ow ners. Competitors cannot "accidentally" copy a patented invention without paying damages to the patentee. Karl R. Cannon is a registered patent attorney with the law firm of THORPE. NORTH A WESTERS in Sandy. This column appears every tw o weeks in Vie tkiih Her-ul- d and is intended as general information only and not as specif-i- c legal advice. Questums or comments can be directed to Cannon at (SOU tM-663.at or via cannon tnw.com. 1 1,