Cheap Fake Watches, Knock off Watches, Replica Watches

By Susan Decker

(Adds Microsoft comment in fifth and 12th paragraphs.)

Feb. 6 (Bloomberg) — Barnes & Noble Inc. should win a patent-infringement case brought by Microsoft Corp. that threatens to halt imports of the bookseller’s Nook e-reader, according to staff of the U.S. trade agency hearing the dispute.

Jeff Hsu, a staff attorney at the U.S. International Trade Commission, said today in an interview he is recommending that ITC Judge Theodore Essex find there was no violation by Barnes & Noble of three Microsoft patents. The recommendation came in a trial beginning today in Washington.

Essex is scheduled to release his findings April 27, and a decision in Microsoft’s favor could lead to a ban on imports of Nook readers made outside the U.S. The staff acts as a third party in the case, and there’s no requirement that the judge follow the recommendation.

The case is part of a strategy by Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft to push Barnes & Noble into paying patent royalties for the Nook, which runs on Google Inc.’s Android operating system. Microsoft claims all Android devices use its technology and has said it collects fees on 70 percent of Android smartphones in the U.S.

Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker Replica Watches, said the staff’s recommendation was made before the presentation of evidence, and it may change after the trial, according to an e- mailed statement.

Barnes & Noble, based in New York, denies infringing the patents, and contends they are invalid because they don’t cover new inventions. The three patents apply to a way to select text to make it larger or smaller; a way to put highlights or footnotes on copyrighted documents; and faster downloading of text from Web pages that have background images.

‘Exorbitant’ Fees

Barnes & Noble has refused to pay Microsoft and complained to the government about its adversary’s tactics. Microsoft “uses these patents to demand that every manufacturer of an Android-based mobile device take a license from Microsoft and pay exorbitant licensing fees,” Barnes & Noble said in a trade commission filing.

Essex has thrown out the patent misuse claim, leaving only the question of whether the patents are valid and have been infringed.

The bookstore chain is banking on the Nook as consumers turn from traditional publishing. Sales of Nook devices surged 70 percent during the holiday-shopping period, and revenue in the Nook division may total $1.5 billion in the fiscal year ending April 30, the company said Jan. 5.

The trade agency has the power to block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents. The Nook is made in Asia, and Microsoft is counting on the threat of the reader being stopped at the border to force Barnes & Noble into a licensing deal.

Amazon.com Agreement

Barnes & Noble said Microsoft first approached it two years ago about an agreement, and in meetings and e-mail exchanges that began in July 2010, Microsoft contended that its patents had the power to block Android devices. The bookseller said in an ITC filing that Microsoft was demanding “shockingly high licensing fees” and requirements that would have limited Barnes & Noble’s ability to upgrade its Nook devices.

“The Android-based Nook devices infringe Microsoft patents,” Microsoft said in its statement. “Barnes & Noble has refused to license Microsoft’s intellectual property on commercially acceptable terms, a decision which has left us with no choice but to file this action in the ITC.”

Amazon.com Inc., whose Kindle reader is the Nook’s top competitor, has a license with Microsoft for at least one of the patents in the case, Microsoft said in its March 2011 complaint. That filing occurred before Seattle-based Amazon.com introduced its Kindle Fire, which also runs on a version of Android.

The case is In the Matter of Certain Handheld Electronic Computing Devices, 337-769, U.S. International Trade Commission (Washington).

–With assistance from Matt Townsend in New York. Editors: Michael Shepard, Steve Walsh

To contact the reporter on this story: Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Shepard at mshepard7@bloomberg.net

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By Louise Downing

Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) — MWM GmbH, the German engine maker bought last year by Caterpillar Inc., said more customers are looking for alternative-fuel engines as Germany winds down its nuclear power.

Higher energy prices and supply shortages are leading private, public and industrial sectors to search for clean, decentralized ways to produce power, Willy Schumacher, managing director of Mannheim-based MWM, said by phone. Decentralized power is energy produced at the point of use Replica Watches, unlike power generated from large, remote power stations.

“More and more customers and companies such as ours are looking for decentralized power generation as substitutes for older and more risky technology,” Schumacher said. “All the discussions going on in Europe about the future of nuclear power and countries such as Germany, which has already decided to exit, mean that through this acquisition we will be very well positioned to replace some of that power.”

Caterpillar, the largest maker of construction and mining equipment, bought MWM in November for 580 million euros ($760 million). The Peoria, Illinois-based company expects to spend about $2.6 billion this year on research and development, and says more than half of its R&D costs the past few years have been linked to reducing emissions. The company is developing technologies to conform with U.S. and European regulations to cut such emissions as nitrous oxide from non-road diesel engines.

“A substantial portion — billions of dollars — of Caterpillar’s overall research and development investment in recent years has been directed to the company’s largest product development effort in its history: the development of technologies to reduce criteria emissions,” said Rachel Potts, a spokeswoman for Caterpillar.

Demand-Driven Market

No single technology will replace nuclear power, said MWM’s Schumacher. Gas, low energy gas, biogas and coal mine methane that can be used to produce both heat and power will play “a major role,” he said. MWM’s customers include industrial companies, utilities and independent power producers.

“It’s clearly a demand-driven market,” the director said. “Government regulations and fiscal incentives are major reasons for growth in the co-generation market.

‘‘New emission-reduction technologies are likely to promote our product and co-generation — repowering programs of old power plants are seen as a driver for us for the next decade and also the emissions credits create new opportunities for our business.’’

–Editors: Randall Hackley, Reed Landberg

To contact the reporter responsible for this story: Louise Downing in London at Ldowning4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg in London at landberg@bloomberg.net

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CONSTRUCTION giant Leighton Holdings' Middle East subsidiary has won a $515 million contract to build a luxury hotel complex in Dubai.

The Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) has been contracted to build what will become the largest integrated hotel complex in the Middle East, equipped with two multi-storey towers, 1600 rooms and a Las Vegas-style aqua theatre.

Once completed, the hotel floor area will sprawl across a whopping 350,000 square metres.

HLG is 45 per cent owned by Leighton, Australia’s largest project development and contracting group.

It won the contract from the Al Habtoor Group, one of the Middle East’s leading construction firms headed by billionaire businessman Khalaf Al Habtoor.

The two companies have embarked on joint ventures in Dubai in the past, including construction of the Habtoor Grand and Metropolitan hotels.

Dubai’s oldest hotel, the Metropolitan Hotel Replica Watches, will be demolished to make way for the new Habtoor Palace development.

Construction is expected to begin in June, with completion scheduled for the second half of 2016.

HLG has constructed many of Dubai’s most well-known hotels, including the seven-star Burj Al Arab, the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Dubai Shangri-la Hotel.

By Liz Capo McCormick and John Detrixhe

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) — Treasury five-year note yields fell to a third consecutive record low after slower-than-forecast U.S. growth added to speculation the Federal Reserve will expand asset purchases to spur economic growth.

Ten-year notes rose as stockpile rebuilding accounted for 1.9 percentage points of the 2.8 percent economic expansion, sparking concern growth may be weaker than expected in the first three-months of this year. New York Fed President William C. Dudley said the economy will probably slow this year while confronting risks “skewed to the downside.”

“The GDP print came in below expectations Replica watches, which somewhat affirmed the message delivered by the Fed during the week,” said Russ Certo, managing director of rates trading at Gleacher & Co. in New York. “The Fed set the tone for not just this week, but for the quarter or the year.”

The five-year note yield decreased two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 0.75 percent at 5 p.m. New York time after dipping below 0.74, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader prices. The 0.875 percent securities maturing in January 2017 rose 3, or $0.94 per $1,000 face amount, to 100 19¾.

Yields on benchmark 10-year notes fell four basis points to 1.89 percent after climbing to as high as 1.97 percent.

Treasuries have lost 0.2 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 0.3 percent decline at the same point last year, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes.

Europe’s sovereign-debt crisis and the threat of a U.S. economic slowdown combined to give Treasuries a 9.8 percent return last year, the most since 2008.

‘Slightly Less’

The rise in gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, follows a 1.8 percent gain in the prior quarter, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for a 3 percent increase. Excluding a jump in inventories, growth was 0.8 percent.

“It’s slightly less than what the market was expecting, but the number kind of fits the description that the Fed’s been giving us,” said Thomas Roth, senior Treasury trader in New York at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities USA Inc. “I don’t think it’s as bad as market thinks.”

Dudley said today in remarks in New York that the main risk to growth is “uncertainty as to how events in Europe will unfold.” Also, “more contractionary” fiscal policies and the “depressed housing market” are likely to impede economic expansion, he said.

Additional Stimulus

The policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this week voted to extend its pledge to keep interest rates low until at least late 2014, compared with a previous date of mid-2013. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said on Jan. 25 that the Fed is weighing additional stimulus to bring down the 8.5 percent unemployment rate, including another round of bond buying. The announcements sparked a two-day rally in Treasuries.

The difference between yields on five-year notes and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, a gauge of trader expectations for consumer prices over the life of the debt known as the break-even rate, widened today to 1.80 percentage points, up from 1.55 at the end of last year.

Demand for inflation protection has led to a 1.2 percent gain in TIPS this year, following a 14 percent return in 2011, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch indexes.

Fed Sells

The Fed sold $8.74 billion of securities due from March 2014 to January 2015 today as part of a plan to replace $400 billion of shorter-maturity Treasuries in its holdings with longer-term debt to cap borrowing costs. The central purchased $2.3 trillion of debt in two rounds of quantitative easing that ended in June.

Longer-term Treasuries have lagged behind shorter maturities in this week’s rally, increasing the difference between five- and 10-year yields to 1.21 percentage points yesterday, the widest in almost three months. The spread was 1.15 percentage points today.

“Most people tend to listen to the Fed, and the Fed certainly doesn’t seem too concerned with inflation,”said Ray Remy, head of fixed income in New York at Daiwa Capital Markets America Inc., one of 21 primary dealers obligated to bid in U.S. debt auctions, said of the growth report. “In fact, it might even be too low.”

Shorter-term Treasuries tend to track what the central bank does with its target for overnight lending, while longer maturities are more influenced by the inflation outlook.

Yields on 30-year bonds fell three basis points to 3.06 percent.

–With assistance from Joshua Zumbrun in Washington and Keith Jenkins in London. Editors: Kenneth Pringle, Dave Liedtka

To contact the reporters on this story: Liz Capo McCormick in New York at emccormick7@bloomberg.net; John Detrixhe in New York at jdetrixhe1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

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By Tanya Angerer

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) — Standard Chartered Plc is marketing a U.S. dollar benchmark 10-year subordinated note, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Barclays Plc Replica Watches, BNP Paribas SA Replica Watches, Credit Suisse Group AG and Standard Chartered are arranging the sale, the person said, asking not to be identified as the details are private. Benchmark typically means $500 million in size.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tanya Angerer in Singapore at tangerer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net

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By Jason Corcoran

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) — OAO Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender Replica Watches, headed for its best close in almost two months as the ruble strengthened against the dollar and RIA Novosti said retail-lending growth will accelerate.

The shares, which have a 13 percent weighting in the 30- stock Micex Index, climbed as much as 3.4 percent and last traded 2.2 percent higher at 86.91 rubles as of 3:32 p.m. in Moscow, poised for their strongest level since Dec. 5.

Retail deposits will grow 20 percent this year after an 18.1 percent gain in 2011 Replica Watches, state-run RIA reported, citing Sberbank department head Dmitry Oguryayev.

The Russian currency added 0.5 percent to 30.7074 versus the dollar today. A close that that price would be its best since Nov. 15. A stronger ruble discourages Russians from withdrawing and converting ruble deposits, Sberbank’s main source of funding.

– Editors: Alex Nicholson, James Kraus

To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Corcoran in Moscow at jcorcoran13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net

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