The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 36

2D Friday June 12 2009 BUSINESS charlotteobservercom The Charlotte Observer PATENTS from ID Airline trouble push toeM prises nap 1 Digital TV switch Today local stations arc planning to switch from analog to digital programming when stations intend to switch: WBTV (Channel 3 CBS): 5 59 am WSOC (Channel 9 ABC): lpm WCCB (Channel 18 Fox): 8 am WCNC (Channel 36 NBC): 205 a WJZY (Channel 46 CW): 1 pm WMYT (Channel 55 MyTV): lpm WUNG (Channel 58 UNC TV): 1201 am For technical help Toll-free numbers are available for viewers who have questions about the digital transition or need advice on hooking up converter boxes Call 877-842-2585 or 866-474-7286 Online: wwwdtvgov wwwdtv-setupcom Higher fuel costs and falloff in corporate travel are likely to curb most carriers' earnings By Harry Weber Associated Press ATLANTA Corporate travel and ticket sales of premium scats arc down Overall demand is weak And fuel prices are rising again The one-two-three punch could be bad news for consumers this fall as airlines face pressure to raise fares or cut more capacity to cover their costs Executives at several airlines including Delta Southwest US Airways Continental and American gave bleak outlooks Thursday during an investor conference in New York and there was little talk from anyone of a near-term rebound AirTran offered a bright spot amid the industry woes as its chief financial officer said the discount carrier expects to have "one of the best years in the The rise in unemployment and hits Americans have taken to the value of their homes coupled with the meltdown in the financial markets has caused a significant slowdown in air travel Airlines also have lost business from the swine flu which has caused some people to cancel travel plans to Mexico Tcmpc Ariz-bascd US Airways Group Inc which has its largest hub in Charlotte said the drop in passenger revenue during the current recession is even worse than the decline that happened after Sept 11 Its president Scott Kirby said the outlook for this year is highly uncertain He said US Airways brought back a domestic fuel surcharge on Wednesday night and raised its fuel surcharge for flights across the Atlantic Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc projects it will take a $125 million to $150 million revenue hit in the second quarter because of the impact on air travel from the swine flu virus The quarter ends June 30 The swine flu scare also has hurt Delta sales to customers in Asia who may be worried about travel because of the SARS outbreak in 2003 The overall drop in demand has coincided with a recent increase in fuel prices which means lower sales one executive said industry passenger revenues have declined nearly 20 percent in the first four months of the year are meeting higher costs If fuel prices continue to climb into the fall airlines will be under pressure to raise prices or cut more capacity to cover their costs Delta President Ed Bastian said Delta has made a decision not to seats out into the marketplace if we recover the cost of that he said Experts have said they expect fare sales to end anytime soon given weak demand for air travel Fewer seats in the air translates into fewer options for travelers in the form of routes not being served anymore by an airline or an airline flying smaller planes to a destination or cutting the number of flights to a destination Routes across the past when the market was hot if the tenant went out of business the space quickly was re-leased Now it takes keeping tenants happy and engaged in the KATHLEEN ROSE RETAIL AND DEVELOPMENT ANALYST WITH ROSE ASSOCIATES SOUTHEAST INC No one that is until Matthew A Washington patent attorney noticed the patent marks on the lid to his daily cup of coffee did some research and found that the maker Solo Cup Co was continuing to claim patent protections for disposable lids that had expired nearly 20 years ago Depending on a variety of factors most patents expire after a set time often after 14 to 20 years In 2007 he sued Highland Park Ilk-based Solo Cup which makes the red and blue plastic cups seen at parties and barbecues and also supplies disposable cups and lids to retailers Pcquignot says the lawsuit addresses a problem in the patent community: companies using false marks to make products look impressive or to scare off competitors who must do significant legal work to research the patents He likens false patent to placing signs in public park lands Pcquignot followed the Solo Cup case by suing razor company Gillette owned by Cincinnati-based Procter Gamble Co and Arrow Fastener Co Inc a manufacturer of staplers and similar products The case against Saddle Brook NJ-based Arrow has been withdrawn but Pcquignot retains the right to revive it Gillette is seeking to dismiss the case arguing Pe-quignot be allowed to sue unless he can show illette acted with intent to markings claims come cheap: They damage reputations Numerous complaints can be filed at almost no lawyers wrote In the Solo Cup case court papers indicate Pe-quignot offered to settle for $9 million Instead Solo Cup argued that allowing a private citizen to sue on behalf of the government is an unconstitutional violation of separation of powers Solo Cup also argued the law violates constitutional requirements that a plaintiff must suffer some type of harm to bring a lawsuit US District Judge Lconie Brinkcma concluded in March that the provision allowing Pcquignot to sue in the name of the government though rare is constitutional Called statutes most have been repealed because of concerns they were being abused Despite ruling there are concerns over the use Last month a federal judge in New York tossed out a similar lawsuit filed by a patent attorney who sued Brooks Brothers over expired patents on its bow tie The judge ruled that if the plaintiff Raymond Stauffer wants to sue on behalf of the United States he must prove the government suffered harm a standard he said Stauffer failed to meet Brinkcma on the other hand said in her ruling that the US suffered harm by the fact that its laws were being broken The Justice Department is siding with Brinkcma On May 29 the government moved to intervene on behalf and said the New York analysis is flawed Neil Friedman the lawyer who represented Brooks Brothers likened Stauffer and Pequignot to looking to collect an easy payday He said aware of several similar lawsuits that have been filed since the Pequignot and cases Pequignot says he expect an avalanche of false markings lawsuits He said that even as a patent attorney it took him many hours of research to be able to file his lawsuit Dennis Crouch a law professor at the University of Missouri said the effect could be significant He estimates there are millions of false markings in the marketplace In her ruling Brinkcma suggested Congress may want to close the loophole the Atlantic arc expected to be significantly impacted Delta said Thursday it will shave additional scats from the air and warned that more than $6 billion in benefits it expected from lower fuel prices its merger with Northwest Airlines and previous capacity reductions will be overtaken by declining revenues American Airlines a unit of Fort Worth Texas-based AMR Corp also announced new capacity cuts think it is crazy to assume and bet on things improving anytime $outhwcst Airlines Co Chief Executive Gary Kelly said at the Bank of Amcr-ica-Mcrrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference Delta said it will reduce system capacity by 10 percent this year compared to 2008 That is up from previous plan to cut system capacity by 6 percent to 8 percent Delta also will reduce international capacity 15 percent up from a previous plan to cut it by 10 percent starting in September The airline also said its staffing levels will be reassessed plan Eola Capital last month quietly rolled out what it calls a "no risk" plan to lure new tenants often accountants and attorneys Tenants who sign a three-year lease are allowed to cancel the lease within 18 months with no penalty if they give 60-days notice Typically tenants who cancel leases might lose their security deposit plus a couple months rent said Bryan Howell regional vice president of the firm which manages 15 million square feet of space in the Charlotte area thought we could give some folks breathing room" said Howell who said had moderate success with the program He said his company also is taking calls from current tenants wanting to modify leases because of the recession However such calls have lightened up in the past three weeks he said New auction for Park condos The Park condos are up for sale yet again The 21-story condominium project that's sat stalled in uptown is scheduled to be sold at auction at 10 am July 22 The auction is scheduled to be at the offices of Poynter Spruill at 301 College St in Charlotte according to Laxson Boyd of Wadsworth Whitestar Ten people have registered to bid so far Boyd said The condos were bought by BB Syndication Services of Wisconsin in a foreclosure auction in November Construction started several years ago on the 106-umt luxury tower at Caldwell and Third streets Its developer 222 South Caldwell Street Ltd Partnership part of Verna Associates of Charlotte accepted deposits from about 80 would-be condo buyers for the units which were to be sold for up to $700000 apiece The deposits were to be used for construction But construction stopped in January 2008 with the building 70 percent complete and the project went into foreclosure For more information about the auction call Boyd at: 414-257-1500 HALL SINGE from ID started taking calls in January from tenants needing a break on their rent to survive While landlords were reluctant to bargain at first he said they are now working more aggressively to keep tenants One University City landlord for example cut a rate this week by $150 a square foot he said The average University area rent was $1759 per square foot according to a Colliers Pinkard survey of first quarter office market conditions Stipp is advising his landlords to offer rates of around $15 or $16 per square foot if they want to keep tenants also giving tenants a TV if they sign a lease now definitely a buyers said real estate analyst Frank Warren of Warren Associates are in a very strong negotiating position The negotiations parallel happening in the local housing market where home-owners arc dropping prices and condo developers are ramping up incentives to woo buyers In uptown where the office market two years ago was tighter than that in Manhattan managers at the Epicentre earlier this year slashed rents by $5 a square foot to $25 a square foot a 17 percent drop and below the uptown market average of $28 a square foot This week the entertainment complex said it is signing two new office tenants lured by the new rates: an information technology company and a bond trader Knight Libertas said David Dorsch of Colliers Pinkard the leasing broker Together the companies will occupy about 4200 square feet on the fourth floor leaving about 70000 square feet of office and retail space available for lease wise landlord is going to say can I do to win tenants to my said Dorsch who also tracks the Charlotte office market at Colliers Pinkard more incentive this time to work with existing tenants to adjust leases to meet Jon Szymanski recently asked his landlord The Bissell Companies for cheaper rent Sales at his company Click-Corn an Internet and software company fell between 25 and 40 percent this year just made said Syzmanski whose company is in the ninth year of a 10-year contract for its space in a SouthPark office building you look driving down the road some kind of sign saying The landlord dropped the current rent by $5 a square foot to $30 a square foot ClickCom extended its lease by at least two years The rent will drop another $5 a square foot next year and fall some more the following year Syzmanski said me the savings were JESSICA ROTKIEWICZ jrotkiewicz(gcharlotteobservercom Vacant spaces may soon be occupied in the Epicentre at rates below the uptown market average of $28 a square foot The complex is signing two new tenants lured by the new rates Office rates have peaked The slow economy availability of new office space and a lack of new tenants is helping push rents down Charlotte office lease cost per square foot $20 10 0 IQ 2Q 3Q 4Q 10 30 40 10 2007 2008 '09 SOURCE The CoStar Office Report WM PITZER bpitzeria charlotteobserver com quickly was re-leased Now it takes keeping tenants happy and engaged in the With three million square feet of new office space scheduled to come on the uptown market in the near future analysts predict rents will continue to fall Dorsch of Colliers Pinkard said he expects the deal-making to continue this year and next His firm projects asking rents citywide will fall by as much as 10 percent this year -and by as much as 15 percent in uptown alone going to see more (dealing) in 2009 and more hi he said Reach Kerry Hall Singe: ksinge a charlotteobserver com 704-358-5085 he said Retail and development analyst Kathleen Rose with Rose Associates Southeast Inc said landlords should request financial records of tenants asking for help and watch out for tenants that try to Like advantage of them She said that while some tenants arc asking landlords for relief not seeing a lot of Landlords do need to pay attention to their tenants more than ever Rose said But that mean they should automatically cut rents because that could put their properties at risk with lenders if they lose too much cash flow she said comes down to good property management she said the past when the market was hot if the tenant went out of business the space wmmi.