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Non-Tech : Any info about Iomega (IOM)? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: D.J.Smyth who wrote (56899)	6/29/1998 5:07:00 PM
From: d-fndr	Respond to of 58324

Hey, Darrell, haven't heard from you in a long time. Hope your return takes us to the upside....

To: D.J.Smyth who wrote (56899)	6/29/1998 9:22:00 PM
From: Gary Wisdom	Respond to of 58324

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Iomega Corp., in a surprise move, announces that as the new majority owner of Nomai, it will continue its litigation against itself. Iomega's spokesman, Rocky (short em at the bottom) Reid says "Why not? Everyone else is suing us. They must know something we don't know. So, we'll continue the Nomai suit just as if nothing has changed. Who knows? Maybe we'll actually win one!!!" For months, the two companies have been waging an intellectual property battle in courtrooms on two continents. Roy, Utah-based Iomega (IOM) said Nomai infringed on its patents by marketing a lower-priced version of its Zip and Jaz hard-disk drives. Nomai finally admitted as much by agreeing in the $21 million settlement that it had reproduced some Iomega software in "reverse engineering" work. The Zip drive is a book-sized, portable storage device that uses a special type of floppy disk with a capacity of 100 megabytes, equivalent to storage of about 70 traditional floppy disks. Jaz, a higher-end offering from Iomega, is a removable hard-drive that holds a gigabyte of data, 10 times as much as the Zip. Under the agreement, Nomai will take its products that compete with Iomega's off the market. The case "had been taking a fair amount of management's time," said Iomega acting Chief Executive James Sierk in an interview with Dow Jones. Although the company still has other lawsuits pending, he said the Nomai case was "the major one." Sierk said Iomega discovered in the courtroom that Nomai had "some pretty interesting technology" that helped make the case for acquiring most of the company. In particular, he said, Nomai has some CD and DVD, or digital versatile disk, technology, plus an inexpensive two-gigabyte removable cartridge drive in development. "Those are things that complement the work we do," Sierk said, "and we're intrigued by that." Sierk said shareholders should be happy Iomega won't have to continue paying the high legal fees associated with the case. He wouldn't say how much those fees totaled but commented that "they were enough to get our attention." Iomega will take a third-quarter charge associated with the acquisition, which it will write off over five years. Under French law, Iomega must make a tender offer to all Nomai shareholders. It won't know the exact amount of the charge until it completes the tender offer. -Christopher Grimes; 201-938-5253 Copyright (c) 1998 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. (:F.NOM) (:IOM) 06/29 11:13a CDT