Daily News Briefs

Edmund Optics Inc. (EO) announced it has opened a sales, customer service and technical support center in France, as a new division of Edmund Optics UK Ltd. The company is also releasing a French version of its catalog and is launching a French Web site, at www.edmundoptics.fr. Edmund Optics also has facilities in Pennsylvania, Singapore, China, Germany, Japan and the UK. . . . Sharp Corp. has been granted a license to use patented Honeywell technology that increases the brightness of images and reduces the appearance of certain interference effects on LCDs (US Patent No. 5,280,371, the "'371 patent"). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Previous licenses under the '371 patent have been granted to LG.Philips LCD, NEC LCD, Chi Mei Optoelectronics and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. In October 2004, Honeywell filed a lawsuit in US District Court for the District of Delaware against 34 electronics companies alleging infringement of the '371 patent. Trial is pending. Philips, NEC, Chi Mei, Samsung and Sharp were not included as defendants in that case.