European Tech Wire - June 8, 2005

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EUROPEAN TECH WIRE - June 8, 2005
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To Subscribe: http://www.techwiremedia.com/europe

o Inventor Sues Finland-Based Nokia for Patent Infringement
o Swiss Chipmaker STMicroelectronics to Eliminate 2,300 Jobs
o Advent Sells Inca Digital to Dianippon Screen for £30 Million
o U.K. Regulator Leaves Mobile Termination Charges in Place
o Swedish Group Reports 200 Suspected File-Swappers to Police
o Report: iTunes More Popular Than Free File-Sharing Services
o Briefly Noted: CSR-Royal Academy of Engineering MacRobert
Award, QLogic Corp.-EMEA Headquarters, BitBand-U.S. Office,
Zeus Technology-Leslie Stretch, The Orchard-U.K. and European
Distribution Agreements
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o Inventor Sues Finland-Based Nokia for Patent Infringement

Helsinki -- Finland-based Nokia, the largest mobile-phone make in the
world, is being sued by Finnish inventor Jari Lahtinen for infringing on
a technology patent that allows mobile users to answer their phones
without touching them. According to Anadeus, a Finnish company that
advocates patent-holder rights, Lahtinen filed in 1995 and received the
patent in 2003. "When (Lahtinen) filed the patent application, he
immediately contacted Nokia, but they said they weren't interested,"
said Anadeus CEO Antti Kosunen. "Then they started (using) the
technology at the end of the 1990s." Kosunen said Lahtinen was now
seeking rightful compensation, the exact amount of which could rise to
millions of euro, depending on Nokia's sales volumes related to the
patent. For its part, Nokia emphasised that the patent is only valid in
Finland and said that it was seeking to invalidate it. What's more, the
company openly questioned whether the patent should have been issued
in the first place.
http://press.namct.com/content/view/1619/2/
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o Swiss Chipmaker STMicroelectronics to Eliminate 2,300 Jobs

Geneva -- In a move to increase profits, STMicroelectronics NV, a
Switzerland-based computer chipmaker, announced that it plans to
eliminate as many as 2,300 jobs in Europe by mid-2006. STM, which
announced just last month that it planned to cut as many as 3,000 jobs
worldwide over the next year and a half, said it made the decision to
slash its European workforce because of the continuing weakness of the
U.S. dollar and anaemic demand for computer chips. STM said its
reorganisation plan would be submitted to worker representatives in
each of the countries involved. The company reported a 25-million-
euro loss for the first quarter of this year, much higher than most
analysts had anticipated.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?L2543293B
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o Advent Sells Inca Digital to Dianippon Screen for £30 Million

Cambridge, England -- Advent Venture Partners, a U.K.-based venture-
capital firm, announced that it has sold one its portfolio companies,
Inca Digital Printers Ltd., to Japan-based Dainippon Screen for
approximately £30 million in cash. Dainippon Screen designs and
manufactures desktop publishing (DTP), press equipment and systems
for the graphic arts industry. Inca, a Cambridge-based manufacturer of
industrial inkjet printing technology, was founded in 2000 as a spin-out
from Cambridge Consultants Ltd. Advent originally invested in Inca in
May 2000 and continued as lead investor in a subsequent funding round
in October 2001. During that time, Inca also received funding from
Foresight 4 VCT Plc and Gartmore Private Equity.
http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=10261
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o U.K. Regulator Leaves Mobile Termination Charges in Place

London -- Ofcom, the U.K. telecommunications regulator, announced
that it plans to extend the existing regime for limiting how much
consumers can be charged to call mobile phones. Since 2003, mobile
phone operators have been forced to cut the amount they charge each
other and fixed-line operators to connect with their customers by 40%.
On Tuesday, however, Ofcom announced that current price controls
would be extended for another 12 months to the end of March 2007.
The Telecommunications Users' Association (TUA) criticised Ofcom
on Wednesday for not planning to force 2G mobile phone companies
into further cuts. "This is an area where there is no real competition
because you can't choose which networks to call and which not to call,"
said TUA Chairman Bill Mieran. "I think they should be encouraged to
bring their prices down."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X11F2183B
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o Swedish Group Reports 200 Suspected File-Swappers to Police

London -- Following the recent passing of a law in Sweden banning all
file-sharing, the country's anti-piracy organisation, Antipiratbyran
(APB), has reported 200 alleged file-swappers to the police, according
to the Register. The new file-sharing ban was passed by Sweden's
parliament and goes into effect July 1. While APB had already sent
copyright warnings to 400,000 file-swappers, the organisation has been
criticised for potentially violating Sweden's privacy laws by collecting
IP addresses. After more than 1,000 complaints were sent to Swedish
authorities, the APB said it has since changed its method of identifying
suspected file-swappers.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z1ED2183B
http://www.antipiratbyran.com 
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o Report: iTunes More Popular Than Free File-Sharing Services

Port Washington, New York -- In a sign that legal digital music
services are finally gaining ground on file-sharing, Apple's iTunes
Music Store tied with peer-to-peer service LimeWire as the second
most-popular digital music service in March 2005, according to a report
from market research firm NPD Group. The top service in March was
file-sharing service WinMX, which was accessed by 2.1 million
households; both iTunes and LimeWire were used by 1.7 million
households. Also in the Top 10 were file-sharing networks Kazaa and
iMesh and legal services Napster and Rhapsody. "One of the music
industry's questions has been when will paid download stores compete
head-to-head with free P2P download services," said NPD Group's
Russ Crupnick. "That question has now been answered."
http://www.npd.com 
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o Briefly Noted:

(Cambridge, England) CSR Plc, a U.K.-based wireless silicon firm,
announced that it has won this year's Royal Academy of Engineering
MacRobert Award for its single chip BlueCore family, which has
fuelled the rise of Bluetooth wireless products. The company received a
tax-free prize of £50,000 and a gold medal from Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace. "CSR has established a leading
position among the world's largest semiconductor companies," said
Robin Paul Freng, chairman of the MacRobert judging panel. "They
have … moved astutely to become the global market leader, with over
900 Bluetooth consumer products using their chips."
http://www.csr.com/pr/pr196.htm

(Dublin) QLogic Corp., a U.S.-based provider of Storage Area Network
infrastructure components, announced that it plans to establish its new
EMEA headquarters in Dublin. The company said the start-up was
expected to create as many as 100 technical jobs over the next five
years. "We sought a location that would provide us with excellent skills
availability, a quality environment for a prestigious headquarters and
easy access to local and international markets," said QLogic CEO H.K.
Desai. "We chose Dublin as we believe it will best service our long-
term needs, enable us to recruit the calibre of people we require and
facilitate the timely delivery of products to our customers overseas."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z3BF1283B

(Netanya, Israel) BitBand, an Israel-based provider of video-content
distribution for IP broadband networks, announced that it has opened a
new U.S. office in Milpitas, California. "As the IPTV market gains
momentum, our aim is to continue and lead the market, based on our
technological expertise and field experience, wide customer base and
strong partnerships with leading IPTV vendors," said BitBand
Executive Vice President Yuval Sovinsky. "We see a great expansion
potential for the IPTV market in the U.S. and intend to present our
capabilities and take part in the exciting developments in this market."
http://makeashorterlink.com/?K31E1583B 

(London) Zeus Technology, a U.K.-based developer of application
traffic management software, announced that it has appointed Leslie
Stretch as a non-executive board director. Stretch joins Zeus after more
than nine years at Sun Microsystems, where he held posts including
managing director and vice president in charge of U.K. operations and
senior vice president of Global Channel Sales, Zeus said. Prior to
joining Sun, Stretch also held a number of positions in the enterprise
software market, including senior sales and management positions at
Oracle.
http://makeashorterlink.com/?B3FE2183B

(New York) The Orchard, a U.S.-based digital distributor of
independent label music, announced that it has signed global
distribution agreements with more than a dozen U.K. and European
record labels. The Orchard will now offer songs from the following
labels through its network of digital retail partners iTunes, eMusic and
Napster: Maverick, Cinevox, Ala Bianca Group, Acrobat Music, Ayler
Records, Stillwater with Fire Records, Silkheart Records, Dynamic,
Snapper Records, Classico Records, Tough Cookie, k-industria,
Talking Elephant Records, Big Chill Recordings, Jazzpoint Records
and Sense World Music/Sursagar.
http://www.theorchard.com 

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