| Fundamental E-Commerce Patent with Early Priority Date to Be Sold ...
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ocean Tomo Auctions today announced it has been engaged to sell a fundamental business method patent related to internet shopping and electronic commerce. The patent will be offered for sale at Ocean Tomo's first private auction to be held on Thursday, May 10, 2007, at Ocean Tomo's global headquarters in Chicago, Illinois. U.S. Patent Number 5,895,454 ("the '454 Patent"), entitled "Integrated Interface for Vendor/Product Oriented Websites," discloses a method of allowing users to interact with vendors and their product or service offerings by querying a database to view, order and pay for products or services using the Internet. The patent has been forward-cited more than 80 times by 38 companies' patents, including such leading companies as Amazon.com, Accenture, CNET Networks, Microsoft and Yahoo!.
Ashurst faces Kirkland in tapas bidding war
Ashurst and Kirkland & Ellis are going head-to-head as their respective clients are locked in a bidding war for tapas restaurant chain La Tasca. Ashurst client Tragus, which is owned by private equity house Blackstone, made a 96m recommended bid yesterday (28 March) for the AIM-listed restaurant, which is being advised by Dickson Minto. But property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz's investment vehicle R20 has countered that with a rival 98m bid, working with Icelandic bank Kaupthing. Kirkland partner Raymond McKeeve is advising Tchenguiz, a client McKeeve brought with him to the US firm when he left Linklaters last April along with private equity partner Graham White. Eversheds partner Stephen Nash is leading a team advising Kaupthing on the joint approach. R20 and Kaupthing had made a previous bid for La Tasca at 190p a share prior to Tragus's approach.
Speed up wireless spectrum auction: Peladeau
OTTAWA–The federal government should speed up the auction of frequencies for a new generation of wireless devices, the head of Quebecor Inc. said yesterday, arguing that a slow pace is putting Canada behind other countries. "We believe that the spectrum auction for new frequencies should happen more quickly than what the Industry department is calling for, which is January of 2008," Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor's chief executive, said in a release. "Canada has already fallen too far behind. If we truly want to support Canadian culture and see it flourish, we have to equip ourselves very rapidly with the appropriate vehicles." Quebecor, through its media division, controls the country's third-largest cable company – Vidéotron – which has expanded aggressively into the phone business using land-based Internet protocol technology.
Brown accused of gold bungle
BRITISH finance minister Gordon Brown faces claims he ignored Bank of England advice and sold half the country's gold stocks at the bottom of the market. Senior central bank figures expressed misgivings about the decision to auction 400 tonnes of bullion between 1999 and 2002, according to the Sunday Times. Officials reportedly warned the Treasury in correspondence that there was a risk of losing money because the price of gold was at a low level. However, there was no formal consultation and Brown went ahead with the move. Since the auctions the value of gold has trebled, allegedly leaving the public purse STG2 billion ($A4.8 billion) worse off. The Treasury issued a robust denial of the claims, insisting the decision had been scrutinised carefully and the taxpayer received value for money.
Poor stadiums and England bid can yet scupper Brazil
BRAZIL has won five soccer World Cup titles and exports hundreds of players to leagues around the world but has hosted only one World Cup tournament (in 1950, losing in the final to Uruguay). If statements from FIFA headquarters in Zurich are credible, it will be awarded the 2014 World Cup this year probably. "The concept of Brazil, or someone else from South America, is not a problem," Chuck Blazer, the only American member of FIFA's powerful executive committee and the general secretary of CONCACAF, said this week. CONCACAF, based in Manhattan, represents 40 national associations in North and Central America and the Caribbean. "One of the reasons the World Cup has grown has been the level of competition in the bidding," Blazer said.
|
