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 IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, NW, Suite 1202 - Washington, DC 20036-5104
Tel: +1 202 785 0017 - Fax: +1 202 785 0835
Web: https://www.ieeeusa.org
 
Greg Hill, Member & Electronic Communications Coordinator
g.hill@ieee.org, 202-785-0017, ext. 8335 www.ieeeusa.org
 
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CONTENTS
- IEEE-USA Files Brief before U.S. Supreme Court in Festo Patent Case
- IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer Wins Top Communicators' Award
- A NEW ISSUE OF 'IEEE-USA POLICY PERSPECTIVES' IS LIVE!
- SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2001 EDITIONS OF IEEE-USA WEBZINES ARE LIVE
- Optical Networking Readers new from IEEE
 
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IEEE-USA Files Brief before U.S. Supreme Court in Festo Patent Case
 
WASHINGTON (5 September 2001) - The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers - United States of America (IEEE-USA) filed an amicus
curiae brief last Friday, 31 August, before the U.S. Supreme Court in the
Festo Corporation v. Shoketsu Kinzoku Kogyo Kabushiki Co., LTD patent case.
A copy of the brief and other relevant resources are available at
https://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/policy/01aug31festo.html.
 
In Festo, the Court will be considering to what extent the holder of an
amended patent is barred from asserting patent rights against another
inventor whose design is substantially the same as the patented invention.
As an alternative to the "flexible bar" and "absolute bar" standards
advocated by the opposing sides in Festo, IEEE-USA is asking the Court to
consider a "foreseeable bar," where holders of an amended patent give up
protection for only those things that were foreseeable by persons familiar
with the associated technology.
 
"This is a landmark case that will redefine intellectual property
rights," IEEE-USA President Ned Sauthoff said. "IEEE-USA believes it's
critical the Court understands how these legal doctrines affect engineers
and the process of innovation in the real world."
 
According to Lee Hollaar, chair of IEEE-USA's Intellectual Property
Committee, "the foreseeability standard strikes a reasonable balance by
providing notice to those developing improvements to a patented invention,
while not constraining a patent to current technologies when a new
technology performs the same function." He added that IEEE-USA's proposal
would "encourage innovation by protecting the interests of inventors, while
setting clear and comprehensible guidelines for the next generation of
technological improvement."
 
Carlton Fields, P.A. of Tampa (www.carltonfields.com) prepared the brief
pro bono. Andrew Greenberg served as counsel of record and headed a team of
10 lawyers and legal assistants.
 
 
IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer Wins Top Communicators' Award
WASHINGTON (14 September 2001) ? IEEE-USA's print magazine designed to
spark collaborative business skills, Today's Engineer, received one of the
top two prizes awarded here last night by the International Association of
Business Communicators (IABC) for the quarterly's last three issues
published in 2000. Today's Engineer was honored with the Silver Inkwell
Award of Excellence for external four-color magazines, in an overall
competition that included some 300 entries in more than three-dozen
categories.
 
Today's Engineer was launched by IEEE-USA volunteers and staff in 1998,
including: Joel Snyder, Charles Lessard, Gus Gaynor, Jean Eason and Mona
Draper. Accepting the award at a National Press Club dinner, attended by
more than 200 professional communicators, were: Georgia C. Stelluto,
publishing manager for IEEE-USA; and Nick Lutkins, vice president of Alpert
& Alpert, the integrated marketing communications firm in Herndon, Va. Also
recognized, but unable to attend the ceremony, was Angela Hickman Brady,
managing editor for Stratton Publishing, Springfield, Va.
 
The print publication was discontinued last year, but is now incorporated
in a monthly webzine at https://www.todaysengineer.org. The quarterly has
now won awards for each of its three years of publication, including The
Communicator Award of Distinction in 1998 and the Society of National
Association Publications' Silver EXCEL Award in 1999.

 

 
A NEW ISSUE OF 'IEEE-USA POLICY PERSPECTIVES' IS LIVE!
 
The September - October 2001 edition of *IEEE-USA POLICY PERSPECTIVES* is
available now on the Web. POLICY PERSPECTIVES is IEEE-USA's monthly,
policy-oriented webzine, offering articles and commentary on the topics
that are shaping legislation, the technology workplace, and the engineering
world. This edition includes:
 
* Rail Transport: Getting Around in a Better Environment
* UCITA Stalls, Giving Opponents Hope
* IEEE and IEEE-USA Elections: Find Out What the Candidates Have to Say
* Capitol Shavings: Will Government Workers Have to Compete?
* Reader Poll: Can the IEEE Help to Combat Terrorism?
* IEEE-USA President's Message on Energy Policies: The Evolving Role of
Engineers
 
To read POLICY PERSPECTIVES, visit:
https://www.todaysengineer.org/policyperspectives/
 
Spread the word about the new IEEE-USA webzines! If you haven't already,
visit *IEEE-USA TODAY'S ENGINEER* at:
https://www.todaysengineer.org/careerfocus/
 
 
SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2001 EDITIONS OF IEEE-USA WEBZINES ARE LIVE
 
The September - October 2001 editions of *IEEE-USA TODAY'S ENGINEER* and
*IEEE-USA POLICY PERSPECTIVES* are available now on the Web.
 
TODAY'S ENGINEER is IEEE-USA's monthly, career-oriented webzine, offering
feature articles and short blurbs with career guidance, tips, strategies
and solutions for all sectors of the profession. This month's fare
includes:
 
* Staying Current: Tips, Strategies and Solutions
* Teamwork on the Job -- An Essential Ingredient to Success
* IEEE-USA Science and Engineering Mass Media Fellow: Mariama Orange
* Trends: Wi-Fi: The Wonders and Exasperations of Wireless Networking
* Engineering Hall of Fame: Jack Morton of Bell Labs
* World Bytes: Restart
* OpEd Corner: Reading, Writing and . . . Algebra?
* Mini-Poll Question: Do you consider yourself "current"?
 
To read TODAY'S ENGINEER, visit:
https://www.todaysengineer.org/careerfocus/
 
 
POLICY PERSPECTIVES is IEEE-USA's monthly, policy-oriented webzine,
offering articles and commentary on the topics that are shaping
legislation, the technology workplace, and the engineering world. This
edition includes:
 
* Rail Transport: Getting Around in a Better Environment
* UCITA Stalls, Giving Opponents Hope
* IEEE and IEEE-USA Elections: Find Out What the Candidates Have to Say
* Capitol Shavings: Will Government Workers Have to Compete?
* Reader Poll: Can the IEEE Help to Combat Terrorism?
* IEEE-USA President's Message on Energy Policies: The Evolving Role of
Engineers
 
To read POLICY PERSPECTIVES, visit:
https://www.todaysengineer.org/policyperspectives/
 
Spread the word about the new IEEE-USA webzines and don't forget to sign up
to receive e-mail updates when new editions of the webzines go online!
 
 
Optical Networking Readers new from IEEE
 
17 September 2001 ? There is so much newly written on optical networking,
that it can be a daunting task for a busy professional to keep up with the
latest trends. IEEE Educational Activities Selected Readings books, Optical
Networking I and II, deliver state-of-the-art information for practicing
electrical and computer engineers. Each collection provides an overview of
specific areas and papers describing the field in detail.
 
Dr. Mehmet Toy, editor of both volumes, has selected the best previously
published papers on optical networking from prestigious journals and
transactions of the last three years. The books are grouped by sub-topics
and need not be read in order. Prefaces to the volumes are available for
your inspection at
www.ieee.org/organizations/eab/PDI/pages/courselist/preview.htm#O.
 
Optical Networking I provides readers with a collection of papers
describing issues from optical components such as amplifiers to management
of optical networks. Topics include:
*Architectures for Wide and Local Area Networks
*Key devices for building optical networks including MEMS
*Architectures for cross connects and architectures for optical
switches
 
Optical Networking II provides readers with knowledge on how to accommodate
for the immense capacity of fiber optic needs. By using this material,
engineers will know how to match fiber needs with switches, routers, and
cross connects, as well as ways to support increasing traffic demands.
Topics include:
*Signaling and Routing
*Scalability
*Restoration
*Quality of Service
 
This collation of materials will aid engineers in managing the huge growth
of information in optical networking. It can also provide background for
those engineers managing in the optical networks area. Toy has a strong
background in Optical Networking with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and
years of accomplishments with AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and most recently,
Axiowave Networks. His expertise assures readers that the volumes are
filled with the most current quality materials.
 
To order, use the following product numbers:
 
Optical Networking I #SR 118, member: $75.95, list: $89.95
Optical Networking II #SR 119, member: $75.95, list: $89.95
 
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IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE created in 1973 to
promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 230,000
electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S.
members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional
society with over 360,000 members in 150 countries. For more information,
visit us online at https://www.ieeeusa.org.
  
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IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, NW, Suite 1202
Washington, DC 20036-5104
Tel: +1 202 785 0017
Fax: +1 202 785 0835
Web: https://www.ieeeusa.org
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Updated 10/01/2001