BOSTON – Boston’s Logan International Airport last week became the first U.S. airport to win federal funds to install a system to screen checked luggage for explosives, the Boston Globe and Boston Herald reported.
The Transportation Security Administration will pay for the equipment and staff to install dozens of the scanners, the papers said. The scanners cost $1.5 million each, the Herald said.
The Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, has set aside $100 million for design and construction costs to house the machines, the reports said. Logan was chosen as the first recipient of the systems in part to help repair damage to its image after the two planes that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York Sept. 11 were
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hijacked from the airport, the papers said, citing Massport Chief Executive Officer Craig Coy. (Bloomberg News)
Host Marriott
buys Boston Marriott Copley Place
BOSTON – Host Marriott Corp. said it bought the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel, located in Boston’s Back Bay district, for $214 million.
The property contains 1,139 rooms, the largest hotel real estate investment trust said in a press release distributed by PRNewswire. The purchase price includes the assumption of $97 million of debt carrying an interest rate of 8.39 percent.
Opened in 1984, the Boston Marriott Copley Place’s occupancy rate has averaged more than 85 percent over the past five years, and contains the largest hotel ballroom in New England. Host Marriott now owns nine hotels.
Split off from Marriott International Inc. in the early 1990s, the Bethesda,
Maryland-based REIT owns or has a stake in 123 properties. (Bloomberg News)
Biogen to file
more Amevive data; no new studies seen
CAMBRIDGE – Biogen Inc. said U.S. regulators asked for more information on its Amevive psoriasis drug, though they requested no further studies, keeping the drug on track for introduction by early 2003.
Amevive treats moderate to severe psoriasis, a skin disorder, by altering the function of the immune system, which raised concerns about possible infection risk. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed that Biogen continue safety studies of Amevive after it’s introduced, the company said.
Biogen is relying on Amevive to revive sales as the company faces increased competition for Avonex, the world’s top-selling multiple sclerosis drug and the company’s only product on the market. Amevive sales may reach $500 million a year, analysts have estimated. (Bloomberg News)
PerkinElmer completes
divestiture of business
BOSTON – Health sciences company PerkinElmer, Inc. has announced the completion of the sale of its detection systems business to L-3 Communications for approximately $100 million.
"This divestiture further strengthens our balance sheet and enhances our
focus on growth opportunities in the health sciences market, which now represents
three-fourths of PerkinElmer’s revenue," said Gregory L. Summe, chairman
and chief executive officer of PerkinElmer.
Simon & Schuster,
others, settle patent
AKRON, Ohio – Playhouse Publishing Inc. said it settled lawsuits with, Viacom Inc.’s Simon & Schuster Inc., News Corp.’s HarperCollins and Watertown, Mass.-based Charlesbridge Publishing Inc. over patents for children’s books containing snacks.
Closely held Playhouse, founded by inventor Deborah D’Andrea, sued the rival publishers in federal court in Akron, Ohio in 2001 claiming they used her patented "Nibble Me" book invention containing cereal, candy or snacks as part of the illustrations.
Akron-based Playhouse said in a statement it settled the lawsuits with licensing agreements. Terms of the agreements weren’t disclosed. (Bloomberg News)
Bose may block
QSC from using ‘Wave’ name
FRAMINGHAM – Bose Corp., which makes the "Wave" radio, persuaded a federal appeals court to block QSC Audio Products Inc. from selling an amplifier system under the "PowerWave" name.
Bose opposed an application by QSC, a Costa Mesa, Calif. company, to trademark the name PowerWave, saying consumers would think the QSC product was made by Bose, which also sells the Acoustic Wave loudspeaker system. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board rejected the complaint by Bose, saying there wasn’t any likelihood of confusion.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the Wave name should be given added protection under trademark laws, because it’s famous even when not directly linked to the Bose name. The court reversed the board’s ruling and denied the QSC
registration.
Closely held Bose, founded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Amar Bose in 1964, is based in Framingham. The Wave radios, selling between $300 and $500 each, have annual sales of about $100 million, Bose said in court papers. The Acoustic Wave, selling for about $1,000 each, generates about $50 million in annual sales. (Bloomberg News)
(Compiled from news reports and releases, print and electronic.)
