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Thursday, December 18, 1997 Wednesday, Iomega closed at $26 1/2, down $7/16 (-1.62%). TODAY'S RECAP: Yesterday began with posters sharing personal experiences, conspiracy theories and thoughts on Kim Edwards selling IOM stock, but the day ended with some in-depth discussion of the news that Iomega's injunction in France against Nomai had been lifted. Many message board participants had varying reactions, positive and negative, to the news. The news release from Iomega is reprinted by ~DaleVelk~. Enjoy! INDEX: Use the Search or Find feature of your word processor to locate the article number (Find: 1++, 3++, etc.) - or use AOL's Edit>>Find in Top Window Feature. If Find in Top Window is dimmed, just click on some text, anything, in the IOM Today window and try again.
1++ Spiritman shares an experience/use of Iomega's RecordIt.
Recap written by TMF Weekly; posts
compiled by TMF Weekly. As always, the following posts represent the thoughts of our contributors, not those of The Motley Fool.
And now, the Best of the Board...Started 9:01pm ET 12/16/97. 1+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Recordit off Web Last Friday I was on my way to LI from upstate NY and was listening to All Things Considered on NPR when I noticed they were talking about something that I could use in my Long Term Care Insurance business. I frantically grabbed for my Post-Its and a pen and started taking notes. When I got to LI, I decided to look on the web to see if NPR offered some sort of program retrieval and discovered that the All Things Considered was indeed archived in Real Audio format amoung others. After waiting several days until they updated the archives to the program I was interested in, I listened to in with RealPlayer and made a copy with a small tape recorder placed near my computers speaker. Tonight , playing with Recordit , I was able to re access the article with RealPlayer and simultaneously recorded a copy on a Zip disc with my handy-dandy Recordit software. The file is 1.7mg and plays for about 4 minutes using the 2 star setting that is suggested for voice. I am thrilled that I can now save the article and play it for my manager at his house using his Zip drive and it will be opened with MoviePlayer which comes with his Macintosh. I think this is just the beginning of some real exciting opportunities that Recordit offers. Looks like some more discs from Santa wouldn't be a disappointment afterall. 2+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Conspiracy theories << I hate conspiracy theories. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. Today's events, though, boy they bug me... They really bug me... This seems like an intentional slam job. >> Mark: The "new" news release from Dow Jones certainly looks bad. And without a doubt it's only one of a pile of questionable articles/news releases regarding Iomega over the last 2 years. I don't doubt that there's some individual journalists/columnists that have ulterior motives when they write about Iomega. And I don't doubt that there's some journalists/columnists that are just plain incompetent. But when people talk about conspiracies, that's like saying the folks from Dow Jones, Barons, CNBC and the New York Times are all sitting around with Greenberg & Dorfman plotting how to get Iomega together. A coordinated group attack as opposed to selected incompetents and sleazies going at it alone. Why? Why would they do that? Why would all these "respected" and widely followed financial sources risk their reputations, not to mention possible jail time, to get Iomega? Because some short is paying all of them off? Considering the amount of sources that have mentioned Iomega in a bad light in the last 2 years, can you imagine what would be involved in doing something like that? How many journalists/columnists, editors and directors would have to be involved/paid off? Nobody has come close to offering up the smallest bit of evidence to support anything like that. We've had stories in the news regarding a limited number of brokers involved with the mob, but no mention of widespread control of the financial media, and no mention of Iomega. And of course we have the sourceless "rumors" posted here and elsewhere online, claiming "I heard this..." or "I know for a fact that..." or "I have a broker friend who told me that...." and other such nonsense. Not quite what you'd call evidence or facts. Of course, not everyone requires evidence or facts to tar and feather people. 3+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: Re: Dec 19 << "Iomega"s Zip drive is a very successful drive that we reverse engineered to make our XHD cartridge. We are hoping that the Northern California court"s ruling against our use of the word "compatible" will be reversed on December 19," he said, adding that only US injunctions would be upheld or lifted on that date. He declined to speak about any other country"s court orders. >> I may have been around here a little too long for my own good. Let me run something by you folks. Didn't Fuji approach Syquest with the Atomm material before Iomega? Didn't Iomega then work with the Fuji media to develop a drive that would work with the media? I would think, and please correct my logic as needed, but if the invention was the disks, and then a drive was developed to read the disks, that nomai would have absolutely no legal right to make the disks. They reverse engineered the wrong invention. The cart actually came before the horse, no? Does this make any sense, or am I working too many hours ringing up holiday sales? 4+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: New take on KE sale I reviewed my Nov 8 post (reposted earlier by IAmErgoSum) and today's DJ story posted by PElliot999 and reworked some of the calculations. From my post -- As of 1/31/97 KE had 496,695 direct shares, 6,000 indirect shares, and 1,387,500 exercisable options. On February 18, 75,000 additional options became exercisable. From PElliot999's post --- On November 3, KE sold 300,000 shares, leaving him holding 628,695 direct shares and 6,000 indirect shares. Form 144 data reported in early November indicated that KE filed to sell 342,000 shares. Information from IR suggested that this transaction was an option exercise. If we assume, for argument's sake, that KE exercised 342,000 options, but only sold 300,000 shares, then his direct holdings would have increased from 496,695 to 538,695 shares. So... where did the extra 90,000 shares come from? Additional option exercises? Open market purchases? FWIW, KE had another 93,750 options vest in November, will have another 300,000+ vest in January, will receive 40,000 shares outright in January AND we don't know yet what new options or shares he was granted for his 1997 performance! 5+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Re: Down again << ... Then why did the stock go down. Certainly you're not the only person on the street that knows this. ... >> "...why did the stock go down ... " Some uninformed investors may have been spooked to sell their precious shares. Consipracy or not, some shorts may have also used the "news" to do some short selling. " ...Certainly you're not the only person on the street that knows this. ... " I am not the "you" being referred to here, but I can't resist answering. Just the opposite. I think most of the serious and informed investors knew about this so called insider selling LAST MONTH from 144s and their usual implicaitons. Most everyone who read this board knew. They apparantly concluded that KE was selling just some of his shares into the oncoming and increasing strength of the company* and therefore this insider selling thing has been discounted --- treated as a mild positive or a non-event. But there still seem to be some innocent and uninformed investors out there who didn't know and may have gotten shafted by this "surprised news" and parted with their shares. Please don't tell me that maybe those are some professional fund managers who just found out about this insider selling for the first time and sold shares! Simply put, there may have been some uninformed investors who didn't know. At least that may have shown us how efficient or inefficient the market really is. And that may have invited ...... To believe a single mid cap or smaller stock can't possibly be manipulated for a few short moments once in awhile by one or two groups (not the whole gang --- no grand conspiracy theory here) may be as BAD as to believe the whole U.S. Market (with all the stocks in it) may be controlled all the time by a gang that involves all the financial news media. P.S. *note: Let's face it, a CEO has to sell some of his/her shares sometimes. But for both the company AND the CEO, there is simple no perfect time for a CEO to sell his/her shares. A CEO selling shares into (before) the oncoming and increasing strength of the company (but not at a peak) may be probably the best for the company and all its shareholders. 6+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: IOM loses In FRANCE French Appellate Court Lifts Preliminary Injunction Against Nomai in France; Earlier Seizures Against Nomai in France Upheld ROY, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 17, 1997--Iomega Corp. (NYSE:IOM) announced that the preliminary injunction it had been awarded on June 20, 1997 prohibiting Nomai SA, a French competitor, from duplicating the shape of Iomega's Zip(R) cartridge or Zip cartridge shutter was lifted on Dec. 12, 1997 by a panel of appellate court judges in Paris, France. The company is evaluating whether to exercise its right to appeal. The June 20, 1997 injunction was based on an earlier design of Nomai's XHD 100 cartridge, which was subsequently redesigned before its commercial introduction in France in September 1997. As part of the Dec. 12, 1997 decision, Nomai's request to cancel earlier seizures conducted by Iomega against Nomai in France was denied for a second time. On Sept. 30, 1997 Iomega filed a second action in Paris, France with respect to Nomai's modified cartridge. A hearing on the merits of Iomega's case was held on Nov. 28, 1997 and a court decision is anticipated in late January 1998. "As we have stated since this litigation began, Iomega plans to vigorously protect and enforce its intellectual property rights," said Kim B. Edwards, Iomega president and chief executive officer. "In addition, it is very important to us," he continued, "to protect our customers against compatibility claims made by Nomai or others which we believe are false." Iomega has five remaining preliminary injunctions against Nomai and its distributors in the U.K. and Germany, and a temporary restraining order against Nomai, and its U.S. subsidiary, in the U.S. Still in force are a preliminary injunction against Nomai and its chairman, Marc-Andre Frouin, issued on Oct. 31, 1997, in London, and a temporary restraining order against Nomai issued on Nov. 20, 1997, by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Both orders were issued following judicial hearings during which both parties were represented by legal counsel. In Germany, Iomega has been awarded four ex parte preliminary injunctions by four separate German courts. The ex parte injunction against Emtec, which is based on the shape of Nomai's initial XHD cartridge, was awarded in August 1997. The ex parte injunctions against Prutting (MediaCom), Triangel and Boeder, all distributors or proposed distributors of Nomai's XHD cartridge, are based on the false compatibility and trademark infringement claims asserted by Iomega and were awarded on Nov. 14, Nov. 19 and Dec. 12, 1997, respectively. The ex parte injunctions against Emtec and Prutting are being opposed. 7+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Legal Stuff The injunction that was lifted in this matter dealt with an older version of the Nomai disk that apparently will never see production. In that regard, it is not important. However (and you knew there was a "however", didn't you?), the implications for the other action against Nomai, the one filed September 30, is not all that good. Assuming that this is the production model of the disk (big assumption, I know), one can speculate that if the company did not prevail on the first, they will not prevail on the second. Of course, while Iomega may fail in the patent matter on this in this particular jurisdiction , they may still prevail on the marketing of the disk as "compatible" since Nomai has now agreed it is not 100% compatible. This legal nightmare was inevitible, given the world economy that we now operate in, with multiple cases, in mulitple countries with multiple disks. Since Iomega is in a better financial position, they are in a better position to fight the multiple battles. If you are keeping a scorecard on earnings, you may need to start taking into account the rising legal bills. :) 8+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Disk Compatability This is a somewhat technical post which many may want to skip. My degrees are in optics, though a long time ago, and I really haven't done optics in ten years or so. If I am right about the problem, this is a simple solution for Iomega to invoke to make Nomai disks inoperable. I hope there is a way to get this idea to the attention of Iomega engineers. I assume that the reflector on a Zip disk is a series of prismatic cube corner reflectors not unlike what is used on traffic signs. Light that strikes the reflector returns (almost) exactly back to where it came from. I also assume that the use of these cube corners is protected by Iomega patent(s). I further assume that there is a light source inside the Zip drive and this light must be reflected back from the disk for the drive to operate. The Nomai disk seems to have a spherical mirror where Iomega has the prismatic reflector. If the mirror has it's center of curvature at the light source in the drive (and it undoubtedly does), the mirror on the Nomai disk acts as a retroreflector every bit as efficiently as the Iomega prismatic retroreflector. No amount of baffeling will distinguish between the Zip disk and the Nomai disk. If the Iomega patents do not cover the use of a spherical mirror, this is a major oversight by Iomega. The spherical mirror would allow the Nomai to get around what was thought to be a major legal protection without violating the patent. However, all is not necessarily lost if Iomega chooses to make future Zip drives operate only with disks having the prismatic reflector, rejecting disks with the Nomai spherical reflector. This can be done by using linearly polarized light (neither expensive nor difficult). The light is first passed through a linear polarizer and then is passed through a quarter wave plate which converts it into circularly polarized light which is sent onto the retroreflector. The retro reflector (spherical mirror or prismatic) reflects the light back into quarter wave and back through the linear polarizer. The result is radically different for the two types of retroreflectors. For the circular retroreflector, the linearly polarized light remains linear is rotated 90 degrees from the two passes through the quarter wave plate and is stopped by tlhe inear polarizer. However, light from the prismatic retroreflector has its polarization scrambled and some of it does pass through the linear polarizer. The bottom line is no signal from a Nomai disk and a signal from an Iomega disk -- easy to distinguish and determine which disk to spit out. _______________________________ End Report. Posts covered through 9:00pm ET 12/17/97. _______________________________
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