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    Woman Sues IBM/HP/Microsoft Over
Motion Injury 11/28/94 WILMINGTON,
DELAWARE, U.S.A., 1994 NOV 28 (NB) --
A Wilmington, Delaware, woman has
sued IBM, Hewlett Packard and
Microsoft, claiming their products
caused her repetitive motion
injuries.

    In the suit, Susan Rosenzweig
claims that her use of a personal
computer as a clerk for E.I. duPont
de Nemours from September 1993 to
September 1994 caused "flexor
tendonitis of both lateral wrists,
DeQuervain's syndrome, and repetitive
strain injury."

    Rosenzweig, who no longer works
for Wilmington-base DuPont, has asked
a US District Court for a jury trail
and wants unspecified punitive and
compensatory damages.

    In the lawsuit, Rosenzweig claims
that her injuries were caused by
excessive use of an IBM computer
keyboard, an HP Vectra computer, and
a Microsoft mouse. Her suit says the
three manufacturers "willfully,
recklessly, knowingly and negligently
failed to warn or advise plaintiff
and others of the dangers and
hazards" of the computer equipment.

    Rosenzweig says she began feeling
"numbness, tingling, pain," after
about a year of working with a PC at
DuPont. She says her symptoms have
been diagnoses as repetitive strain
injuries by doctors in Delaware,
Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

    The case is somewhat unusual in
that repetitive motion injury suits
are generally directed at employers
or at state agencies that deny
disability payments, not at equipment
manufacturers.

    According to Occupational Health
and Safety Administration figures, 56
percent of 1992 work-related injuries
were repetitive stress injuries such
as tendonitis and carpal tunnel
syndrome. OSHA is launching a major
program to stress ergonomics in the
work place to prevent such injuries.

    Organized labor has been pushing
OSHA to put repetitive motion
injuries at the top of its regulatory
agenda for many years. OSHA's draft
ergonomics standard would cover some
120 million workers in most
companies. The National Association
of Manufacturers is spearheading a
business campaign to oppose the OSHA
proposal.

    UNUM Corp., a large Portland,
Me., disability insurer, reports that
individual claims for disability as a
result of carpal tunnel syndrome are
up over 500 percent in the past five
years. Many individual disability
insurers are suffering losses as a
result of astronomical increases in
claims for carpal tunnel syndrome and
other repetitive motion injuries.

    (Kennedy Maize/19941128)

      Spectrum Sues Motorola Over
Wireless Data Patents 12/09/94
MANHASSET, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1994 DEC
9 (NB) -- Spectrum Information
Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: NMS: SPCL)
is suing Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT)
for patent infringement. The suit
involves six patents, including two
issued just last week, that cover
basic wireless data concepts.

    Spectrum alleges in its complaint
that Motorola "has been and is
infringing, actively inducing others
to the infringe and aiding, abetting
and contributing to the infringement
by others" of the six patents.
Spectrum says the charge involves
Motorola's Cellect cellular modem
product line.

    Spectrum spokesperson Chris
Cosentino told Newsbytes, "We would
have preferred that it not to go to
court, but the company has to protect
its intellectual property. It's not
the first time the company had to go
to court to defend its patents."

    Cosentino described the six
patents as covering "a broad area" of
cellular modem and data transmission
technology. He said the suit would
probably go to court around Summer,
1995.

    In addition to infringement
penalties, Spectrum seeks triple
damages for willful infringement, a
temporary and permanent injunction
against continued infringing
activities, and costs and attorney's
fees.

    The firm previously has won
consent decrees from Data Race and
Microcom, in which the latter firms
agreed to enter license agreements
with Spectrum for use of its
proprietary technology. It also
claims to have licensing agreements
in place with 15 other firms that
market cellular data products,
including AT&T, Rockwell
International, US Robotics,
Megahertz, and Zoom Telephonics.

    Asked for comment on the suit,
Motorola spokesperson George Grimsrud
would say only: "We believe the suit
is without merit and we plan to
defend ourselves vigorously."

    The Cellect is Motorola's
recently introduced PC Card (formerly
PCMCIA, for Personal Computer Memory
Card International Association)
cellular/wireline 14.4 kilobits-per-
second (Kbps) data/fax modem,
currently priced at $449. The device
is aimed at mobile laptop PC users
who need access to online services
and local area networks.

    In its complaint, Spectrum
alleges that the Motorola product
infringes on Spectrum's US Patent Re
34,034, US Patent No. 4,972,457, US
Patent No. 5,127,041 and US Patent
No. 5,249,218, which cover techniques
and devices for data transmission
through cellular networks.

    Spectrum also claims infringement
on two patents awarded last week, US
Patent No. 5,353,334, which expands
Spectrum's basic rights in the area
of direct connect technology; and US
Patent No. 5,367,563, which broadens
Spectrum's coverage for direct
connect modems.

    (Craig Menefee/19941209/Press
Contact: Chris Cosentino, 212-546-
2687, or Donna C. George, 516/627-
8992, both of Spectrum)