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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.

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL – BEST Inc. announced the launch of its SMT manufacturing class, a training course designed for technicians, operators, engineers and other personnel new to SMT assembly who would like to deepen their knowledge about the steps involved in the manufacturing of electronics assemblies.

The classes consist of practical assembly techniques, hands-on demonstrations, local area plant tours, subject matter expert explanations and classroom lectures.

Students are exposed to a combination of lab/plant tour information and classroom lectures.

The next class is in November in Rolling Meadows, IL.

For more information, visit www.solder.net.