The Philadelphia Inquirer du lieu suivant : Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 38

business Saturday, Jan. 10, 1987 Pennsauken firm's suit says its software was copied By Andrea Knox Insurer Staff Writer The worm has turned for Franklin Computer which got caught three years ago copying computers made by Apple Computer Inc. Now the Pennsauken company is charging that its own computer system is being copied. In a suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Camden, Franklin said a competing machine, the new Laser 128 personal computer, includes a key piece of software that is copied from software to which Franklin owns the rights.

In the suit, which also names as defendants a software company and a number of retail distributors. Franklin asks the court to stop distribution of the Laser 128 and to award Franklin punitive damages. Sales of the Laser 128, which began in the last two months, are hurting sales of Franklin computers, the company said in the suit. The $350 to $400 price of the Laser 128 is "considerably less" than that of Franklin's computers, it add At issue is a "booting program," instructions stored in the computer that transfer information from a floppy disk to the computer's memory. Franklin alleges the booting program in the Laser 128 is copied from a program designed for Franklin by Language Arts of Portland, and to which Franklin bought the rights.

Although Franklin no longer uses the program, it has a copyright on it, according to the suit. It alleges the owners of Language Arts, operating as Central Point Software sold or licensed the program to the manufacturers of the Laser 128, Video Technology Computers Inc. of Northbrook, EX, and Video Technology Computers Ltd. of Hong Kong. Michael Brown, president of Central Point, denied the allegations in an interview last night The software in the Laser 128 is not at all the same as the software we sold to Franklin in 1984," Brown said.

"We feel they're doing this as a rather unethical attempt to block the 128, which was out many months before their machine, to provide them a competitive advantage. We'll fight it all the way, because we're sure we're right" Although only 45 percent of the booting program in the Laser 128 is a direct copy of the Franklin program, the copied portions are the most critical parts of it. Franklin charges. Its suit is based on a landmark 1983 ruling by a federal appeals court in a case filed by Apple against Franklin. The court dismissed Franklin's contention that operating systems, the software that handles internal computer functions such as loading programs, were not subject to copyright.

Franklin agreed in 1984 to pay Apple $25 million and to develop its own operating system. That, plus the $1 million cost of developing a new operating system, nearly put Franklin out of business. The company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and had announced its intention to liquidate before developing a system allowing it to stay in business. The first operating system developed under the Franklin-Apple agreement, which was created by Language Arts under contract from Franklin, is the software at issue in Franklin's suit against the Laser 128. U.S.

jobless rate in Dec. dropped to 6.7 percent Dow rises for sixth time in '87 Closes at up 78.60 for week I- ii pg I OJ fit 4 it I By Chet Currier Asnciated Press NEW YORK The stock market rang up its sixth straight gain yesterday, extending its early-1987 rally to new heights despite periodic bouts of profit-taking. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 3.66 to 2,005.91, closing out the week with a gain of 78.60 points. That marked the best weekly showing by the average since it soared 92.91 points March 10-14. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 193.03 million shares, against 194.52 million Thursday.

Analysts said it was no surprise to see some traders cashing in their gains early in the session after a 106.30-point runup in the Dow Jones industrial average over the first five sessions of 1987. They also said a few investing institutions may have set the 2,000 level as a target for profit-taking. Stocks also had to make do without much help from the bond market, where interest rates stopped falling and turned modestly higher. Bond traders became a bit wary after the government's monthly report on trends in the labor force showed a bigger-than-expected increase in non-farm payroll employment last month. In a separate report, the Labor Department said the producer-price index of finished goods was unchanged in December, signaling a continuing low level of inflationary pressures.

In yesterday's session, the standout was the Dow Jones average of 20 transportation stocks, which climbed 10.65 to 853.92, helped by advances in the airline group. Elsewhere, ICN Pharmaceuticals fell 4 to 21 V. After a sharp rise lately, the stock gyrated widely as the company said clinical trials had shown one of its drugs to be effective in preventing the development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, in people who had been infected with the AIDS virus. Analysts said traders who had bid up the stock lately evidently had been hoping for more dramatic results in the test report. MCA rose 1 to 437fe on a report that Walt Disney Co.

might be interested in MCA's film library. Buyers were also active in the depressed oil-service sector, encouraged by the recent rise in world oil prices. Schlumberger gained 1 to 35; Halliburton 1 to 28, and Hughes Tool 1 to 10. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 9 to 5 in the overall tally on the Big Board, with 1,041 up, 577 down and 382 unchanged. The exchange's composite index added 0.84 to 148.39.

Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 226.66 million shares. Standard Poor's index of 400 industrials rose 1.74 to 288.53, and 500-stock composite index was up 1.45 at 258.73. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market picked up 3.11 to 380.65. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index closed at 283.79, up 2.14. from Inquirer Wire Services WASHINGTON The nation's unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent in December, down by 0.2 percent from November, the government said yesterday.

The decline left average unemployment for all of 1986 at a seven-year low. The White House praised the news, but a prominent economist said the figures were a "statistical aberration" that painted an inaccurate picture. Pennsylvania's jobless rate fell from 6.3 percent to 5.1 percent. It was the sharpest decline among the 11 largest states and the lowest rate in Pennsylvania since July 1974 when its unemployment dropped to 4.9 percent. That gave Pennsylavnia the fourth-lowest unemployment rate among the nation's 11 largest states.

William D. Murray, chief of economic analysis and information for the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Philadelphia office, said that while employment rose by 31,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in December, the work force those people working and looking for work shrank by 38,000 workers. The result, he said, was a drop of 69,000 workers in the state's unemployment rolls. New Jersey's unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in December from 4.4 percent in November. Its rate was second-lowest behind Massachusetts' 3.3 percent of the 11 largest states.

Nationwide, joblessness averaged 7 percent in 1986, the lowest annual average since 1979 when the annual figure was 5.8 percent, the Labor Department said. The annual average in 1985 was 7.2 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said its survey of 60,000 households showed a total of 110,637,000 people at work in December. That is an all-time high and represents increases of 205,000 jobs above November and 2.4 million above December 1985. Revised civilian-jobless figures for October and November 1986 put the unemployment rate for both months at 6.9 percent.

Prior to seasonal revision the rate for October and November was 7 percent. "The reported decline in unemployment is a statistical aberration produced by two factors, seasonal adjustment and a falling labor force," said Jerry Jasinowski, the chief economist for the National Association of Manufacturers. "Before adjustment, employment actually declined by 160,000," Jasinowski said. "However, the seasonal adjustment procedure translated this decline into an increase of 200,000." He said the total U.S. labor force shrank by almost 500,000 people before seasonal adjustment and 100,000 people after revision.

The nation lost almost 100,000 manufacturing jobs between December 1985 and December 1986, Jasinowski said. Other analysts also cautioned that the economy is still strewn with potholes. "My real worry is what will happen in January or February, because a lot of companies announced layoffs last month that won't show up until later," said Lawrence Chimerine of (See UNEMPLOYMENT on 11-C) Associated Press Silvano DiGnova, 24, head of Tangible Investments of America, with valuable coins. After a lesson with a dime, Phila. man's hobby pays off Lawrence Chimerine Warned of possible danger ahead Finishing up in A.C.

by cellular By Neill Borowski Inquirer Slajl Writer Gamblers now are able to conclude that last-minute business on the telephone while driving to Atlantic City from Philadelphia. Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, a unit of Philadelphia-based Bell Atlantic announced yesterday that it had switched on a cellular radio mobile telephone system serving the Atlantic City area. The only dead zone for cellular telephone calls will be around Ham-monton in a gap between the Philadelphia and Atlantic City systems, said Karen Ann Kurlander, a Bell Atlantic Mobile media relations manager. She said that Bell's marketers expect most of their business for the $2 million system to come from "roam-ers" those customers with home bases such as Philadelphia or New York who want to use their car phones while in Atlantic City. Bell Atlantic's cellular system also will cover the bays and harbors, and extend several miles into the ocean near Atlantic City, she added.

Although the Federal Communications Commission authorization docs not cover vessels, customers would be able to use the system from boats. The new system initially will have only two cell sites with a transmitter, receiver and antenna that will cover 300 square miles of Cape May and Atlantic Counties. A planned third cell site will expand the coverage to 730 square miles, to cover virtually all the two counties. Bell's coverage area now extends from Brigantine in the north to Sea Isle City in the south, and from El-wood, off the Atlantic City Expressway, to the east, according to Bell. Rcutert DiGenova, whose business had nearly $20 million in sales in 1985, got his start in coins while working as a newspaper carrier in South Philadelphia, collecting pennies plucked from his change.

"I got a few friends involved and we got kind of competitive about it," he said. "They got out of it far too long ago," DiGenova said of his boyhood friends. Staying in has brought a marked change in DiGenova's life. "1 come from a poor family," he said. "Generally speaking, I had at least two different jobs at any point in time.

I always delivered newspapers. I remember collecting newspapers and cans for scrap metal. It's been quite a long way. However, I always was entrepreneurial-minded." DiGenova said he realized that picking through (See COINS on 11-C) By Mike Owen Associated Press What began as a hobby for Silvano DiGenova has turned into a multimillion-dollar business in Philadelphia that lets the 24-year-old coin dealer drive a Ferrari or a Mercedes Benz when he's not jetting around the country or pursuing new ventures. Someday, he may even finish business school, he says, but there's no need right now.

"I made very close to seven figures personally last year," DiGenova, chairman of Tangible Investments of America, said in an interview. The company is based at 1811 Chestnut St. That's nearly $1 million from wheeling and dealing in rare coins a far cry from some friendly coin-collecting competition that introduced DiGenova to his calling. Du Pont is target of U.S. complaint over papers filed on waste storage HI ffk 'W a result, Hutchinson said yesterday.

"It was not a deliberate attempt to circumvent the law," she said. Robert Porter, manager of the Du Pont plant, characterized the matter through a company spokesman as a "procedural" error, adding that there never was any harm to the environment or health risks to plant workers. The incident dates back to October 1981, when Du Pont employees at the West Virginia plant notified the EPA that it planned to close the four waste-storage tanks at the facility in March 1982. The tanks were actually closed in April 1981, six months before Du Pont's notification to the EPA. file closure plans 180 days before waste-storage tanks are closed to ensure that proper safety precautions are in place, according to the complaint and Margaret L.

Hutchinson, assistant U.S. attorney. Du Pont signed a consent decree in the case and agreed to pay the government $90,000 in penalties to settle the matter, according to documents filed in court. The company could have been fined $25,000 a day during the six-month period in which the violations occurred, for a total of more than $4 million. However, the U.S.

attorney and the EPA determined that the documents were filed inadvertently and that at no time was there any health risk as i 1 ffl'i I iiimii I 9 yJX. .,2 "i WK-y K- By Richard Burke Inquirer Staff Writer The U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia filed a civil complaint yesterday against Du Pont Co. for filing false documents with the federal Environmental Protection Agency regarding the closure of waste-storage tanks at Du Pont's plant in Belle, W.Va. The complaint, filed in VS.

District Court in Philadelphia, alleges that Du Pont filed a "closure plan" for four waste-storage tanks at the plant, which manufactures industrial and agricultural chemicals, about six months after the tanks actually had been shut down. f.The EPA requires that companies A COURT INJUNCTION helped Robert Holmes blocked Murdoch, who owns newspapers and a Court (in front of a newspaper building last broadcasting stations on three continents, year) slow an effort by rival Rupert Murdoch from obtaining more than IS percent of the to acquire the Herald Weekly Times Sydney-based company's stock, for which he Australia's largest media company. The Su- had offered $10 (U.S.) a share. Both men have preme Court of the State of Victoria yesterday raised their bids in the takeover fight.