Hi Rande....Might want to take a peek at SOS....was awarded a positive verdict by European courts in October...hired Law firm yesterday(announced after close)to sue in U.S......ALL memory storage sold in the last 10 years s what they want to be paid a royalty on....as well as ALL FUTURE MEMORY STORAGE.....may end up being a Don Quixote, but if the story is mentioned on good old CNBC they could really have fun with this one for a few days. I do have 1000 shares and plan to buy a few more if volume comes in...hope this isn't perceived as a spam,that is not my intent.
Computer Corporation Announces Award of Patents for Development of Parity Protected Disk Arrays
European Patent Offices (EPO) Acknowledge Company's Intellectual Property Claims
NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1999-- Storage Computer Corporation (AMEX:SOS - news), an early pioneer in the development of high-performance parity protected disk array storage subsystems, today announced the award of its first European patent No. 0539494. Originally filed with the EPO on July 15, 1991, the application survived active opposition from ''interested parties'' to block the issuance of the European patent. The EPO patent issued today sustains claims allowed in previously awarded patents to the Company by the US Patent and Trademark Office. This award protects Storage Computer's intellectual property relating to parity protected disk arrays in key European markets.
Storage Computer's comprehensive intellectual property rights are reflected in a number of issued and pending US and foreign patents. Together, these patents encompass the core technology underlying the development and operation of virtually all computer storage subsystem products produced and marketed by numerous companies throughout the world. However, Storage Computer's patented technology has not been licensed to others. The Company's critical patents cover SCSI disk arrays, parity-protected disk arrays and Storage Computer's unique asynchronous storage architecture marketed as ''RAID 7.'' Other patents protect the software implementation of “Virtual Storage Devices” with allowed claims covering magnetic disk, optical disk and magnetic tape and tape libraries running as “virtual devices”' under software control. In addition, the Company's issued patents cover the basic architecture and software control of implementations known as Storage Area Networks or SAN's.
''The basic inventions of SCSI-attached Disk Arrays, Parity Protected Disk Arrays, 'virtual storage devices', and 'storage area networks' are based on our research and development work dating back to the 1980's. These inventions are disclosed in our first patent #4,942,579 for the unique asynchronous storage array architecture called RAID 7. They are further described and claimed in our US patents: 5,257,367; 5,720,027; 5,732,238; 5,790,774; and 5,893,919,'' commented Ted Goodlander, CEO of Storage Computer Corporation. ''As a leading technology firm, we are complimented by the stream of new product announcements from major vendors that incorporate our patented inventions. As a business organization, we are keenly aware that many of these newly announced products may infringe one or more of our issued patents. Our pending patent applications may also be applicable to these products.''
''Cab-Tek, Inc., Storage Computer's predecessor company was the first to invent the SCSI-based disk array and the first to invent the parity-protected disk array,'' stated Anthony Davis of Davis & Bujold, Patent Counsel to the Companies since 1981. ''During the patent procurement process, it became apparent that these were pioneering inventions and that no prior art existed with respect to what are now commonly called RAID disk arrays. The most recent patent issued reflects Storage Computer's ability to continue to invent the art well in advance of others.'' When Storage Computer was created as the successor of Cab-Tek, Inc. in 1991, it acquired ownership of all of the intellectual property developed by Cab-Tek over the previous seven years.
Storage Computer is currently formulating a licensing and enforcement strategy that is intended to maximize the Company's investment in the patented technology. According to market estimates by IDC and Salomon, Smith, Barney, the worldwide Disk Storage Subsystem revenues between 1994 and 1999 approximate US$154.5 Billion.
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SOS
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delayed 20 mins - disclaimer
Wednesday February 23, 4:20 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Storage Computer Retains Sidley & Austin to Enforce Its Intellectual Property Rights in Computer Storage Systems
One Of The Largest Law Firms In The World Takes Case On A Contingency Fee Basis
NASHUA, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 2000-- Storage Computer Corporation® (AMEX: SOS - news), today announced that it had reached a final agreement with Sidley & Austin to represent the Company in connection with the Company's Patents and Intellectual Property, including where appropriate licensing agreements and enforcement actions against unlicensed infringing parties.
''Sidley & Austin was chosen based on their demonstrated abilities in Intellectual Property Law practice, their international presence in key foreign markets, and their stature as one of America's oldest and largest law firms.'' Commented Ted Goodlander, CEO of Storage Computer Corporation. ''We believe our patents encompass the core technology underlying the development and operation of virtually all computer storage subsystem products, and we believe that Sidley & Austin has the ability to establish that as a business and legal fact.''
Intellectual Property may well be the ''New wealth of nations in this century'' stated Thomas C. Green, Partner at Sidley & Austin's Washington DC office, ''We accepted this case because we believe that entrepreneurial companies are driving our economic growth. A company such as Storage Computer needs to be fairly compensated for its risk and vision in pioneering its patented technologies that have contributed, in part, to the dramatic growth of the economy.''
Bryan Medlock, head of the firm's Intellectual Property Practice said that the firm is well prepared to move forward with the Storage Computer Corporation engagement. ''We have invested substantial professional time in the last few months investigating, researching, and assessing the validity of the claims in the SOS patents. Our conclusion that the intellectual property in the patents is solid led us to undertake this engagement on a contingency basis.''
Dale Nixon, IP litigation Partner in Dallas, added ''Growth in Information Technology is being driven by huge cost decreases in commodity MIPS, communications bandwidth, and disk megabytes. However, it is intellectual property, like Storage Computer's intellectual property rights, that bring together these advancements and create value which we see in the Internet, E-commerce, Data Warehousing, and other information phenomena with large economic benefits. By right and by law, a portion of that benefit is due the intellectual property owner.''
About Sidley & Austin
Sidley & Austin is an international law firm with approximately 900 lawyers practicing on three continents. Founded in Chicago in 1866, the firm is one of the largest in the world, with offices in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, London, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo. Information on the firm may be found on the World Wide Web at sidley.com. 
About Storage Computer Corporation
Storage Computer Corporation develops and manufactures software-driven multi-host storage solutions used to drive core business applications. Storage Computer solves its customer's business problems through its StorgeSuite(TM) product line and patented OmniRAID and OmniFORCE storage software. Storage Computer Corporation is a publicly held company traded on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol SOS. The Company's worldwide headquarters are in Nashua, New Hampshire, with subsidiaries and distribution in over 30 countries. Company information may be found on the World Wide Web at storage.com.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 contains certain safe harbors regarding forward-looking statements. From time to time, information provided by the Company or statements made by its directors, officers or employees may contain 'forward-looking' information, which involve risk and uncertainties. Any statements in this report that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements (including, but not limited to, statements concerning the characteristics and the growth of the Company's market and customers, the Company's objectives and plans for future operations, possible acquisitions and the Company's expected liquidity and capital resources, and the possible outcome of litigation.). Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and accordingly, actual results could differ materially. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the continued and future acceptance of the Company's products and services, the rate of growth in the industries of the Company's customers; the presence of competitors with greater technical, marketing and financial resources; the Company's ability to promptly and effectively respond to technological change which meets evolving customer needs; capacity and supply constraints or difficulties; and the Company's ability to successfully integrate new operations.
Storage Computer and RAID 7 are registered trademarks; and OmniRAID Server, OmniRAID SuperServer, and OmniForce are trademarks of Storage Computer Corporation. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the properties of their respective holders.
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