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DERBYSHIRE, UK – Electrochemical manufacturer Electrolube, a division of HK Wentworth Ltd., has received £1.1million in additional funding from Fortis, a large European financial institution.

Fortis provided the funds worth to HK Wentworth following the development of a five-year business plan, and has to date invested £2 million into the group.

The initial affiliation will run for two years, with the possibility of extension. Fortis’ investment is set to impact Electrolube’s international sales, technical support and research and development capability.

WASHINGTON – A lobbying effort began Thursday to curb or halt patent legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representative two weeks ago.

Opponents, namely biotech and pharmaceutical firms, claim the bill would undermine current patent protections and deter investors from taking chances with innovative ideas.

The pending legislation has had support from Microsoft, Cisco, Intel and other big tech firms. It is designed to control excessive litigation; however, detractors claim it would benefit large corporations at the expense of startups.

Inventors and CEOs from more than a dozen companies said they object to the provision that would permit companies to challenge patents after awarded in a subsequent review process.

At a briefing Thursday, several executives said they were concerned that because the esoteric, technical details of patent law are difficult to understand, a bad bill might get through Congress.

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), a chief sponsor of the House bill, said he would continue to "tweak" provisions when Congress negotiates the details of a final bill.

First, the Senate would have to pass its own bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), said could happen in the next few weeks.

ATLANTA – Stencils are often overlooked or taken for granted, but offer ample opportunities for process improvement and even cost savings.

Those were the takeaways from Photo Stencil regional sales manager Skye McDaniel, who on Thursday offered up an informative and occasionally humorous presentation on stencil selection at the Atlanta SMTA chapter meeting.

HELSINKI – Sampo Bank opposes the planned merger of subsidiary PCB maker Aspocomp Oy with its parent company, a merger decided on in May by the board of Aspocomp Group Oyj.

Aspocomp will consider available options, the company reports.

The planned registration date for the merger was Sept. 30.

Sampo Life Insurance Co. owns a roughly 4% stake in Aspocomp Group Oyj, down from more than 10% earlier this year. Sampo Life is part of the same group as Sampo Bank.

LEWISTON, MN – RiverSide Electronics has achieved ISO 13485:2003 medical certification, the company reports. ISO 13485:2003 is the international quality management standard for manufacturers of medical devices. Emphasis is placed on risk management, material traceability, process qualification, and software validation.

“ISO 13485:2003 certification strengthens our core competencies and positions us for continued growth,” GM Gregg Reick said in a statement.