Hong Kong-based Arrow Asia Pac Ltd. announced today that it has signed a franchise distribution agreement with CML Innovative Technologies (CML) of Hackensack, N.J., a manufacturer of LED and other light sources, optical light pipes and surface-mounted lighting solution products. Under the terms of the agreement, CML's full range of products will be distributed through Arrow's 41 sales offices in 11 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific region. Arrow Asia Pac officials say the partnership will allow them to provide lighting solutions to the company's customers in the automotive, consumer electronics, gaming and telecommunications industries. . . . Aculight Corp., a Bothell, Wash.-based developer of laser technologies, has received a $200,000 Phase I contract under the Small Business Innovation Research program from the National Institutes of Health to refine a protype fiber-coupled laser with which biomedical engineers and medical researchers at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., can conduct feasibility studies. The optical neural stimulator developed would eventually be marketed by Aculight and would be an alternative to the electrical stimulators currently used in procedures such as locating and treating peripheral nerves, brain mapping and nerve conduction studies. The procedures are used to treat patients with Parkinson's disease and epileptic seizures and have the potential to give patients with spinal cord injuries some control over their extremities. . . . In response to claims of patent infringement made by fellow semiconductor design software maker Synopsys Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., Magma Design Automation of Santa Clara, Calif., has filed a counterclaim asserting that Synopsys is trying to enforce fraudulently obtained patents and violating US antitrust laws in an attempt to maintain its 91 percent market share. Two patents at issue involve scan reordering, while the third involves improving timing and congestion in integrated circuit design. In a separate action, Magma requested that a claim of unfair competition filed by Synopsys in Santa Clara County Superior Court on Sept. 26 be transferred to the US District Court for the Northern District of California, where the companies' initial patent dispute is being tried.