European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday february 10, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matters the . Steel group the steel making Arm of us corp., announced it has completed a plan to close its South works Plant in Chicago which employed 14,000 people at its height in the Early 1960s. The company said operations at the Plant which employed nearly 700 workers before the last round of layoffs began last november will shut Down april 10. The company which said in january it was considering closing the Plant announced Friday that it and notified the United steelworkers of America and appropriate government officials of the april closure Date. Us spokesman Thomas Ferrall said the company and the Union a exhausted the alternatives to closing the South works Plant. Ferrall said us does have provisions to move workers to other plants but chances of new jobs opening up Are a rather  rates London up fridays rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $356.25 an ounce Silver at $4.22. Feb.6 feb.7 British pound.1.8155 1.8345 German mark.1.5800 1.5620 French franc.5.3472 5.3800 dutch guilder.1.7758 1.7786 belgian franc.32.57 32.22 italian lira.1,186.90 1,188.60 Swiss franc.1.4100 1.3965 greek drachma.182.45 182.98 turkish lira.5,490.00 5,511.50 saudi arabian riyal.3.7497 3.7497 Spanish peseta.99.30 99.45 portuguese escudo.135.80 136.38 Canadian dollar.1.1791 1.1810 austrian schilling.11.095 11.12 norwegian krone.6.1880 6.2030 danish krone.6.1250 6.1275 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.54 through monday based on fridays noontime Price  car put on ice by porsche Chicago a German sports car maker porsche a said its new Low end car wont be ready until the second half of this decade and it is Cooling plans for another Model that would carry More than two passengers. Brian Bowler president and chief executive of porsche cars North America made the announcements at the Chicago Auto show where porsche is exhibiting its first 1993 Model the 911 is America. Porsche has a put on ice a project known within the company As a the porsche for More than two a Bowler told a news conference. He declined to give details on How Large a car had been planned but indicated its Price would have been a in the very High $100,000-plus  a a we re of the opinion that the world Market Isnit Likely in the near future to offer us significant enough volume for a product in that direction Quot Bowler said. . Exec says critics of Japan fuel harassment racist attacks from wire reports Dallas a a top american executive of a japanese owned automobile company saturday accused . Automakers and some politicians of a legitimizing discrimination and racism by blaming the nations economic problems on Japan. Criticisms of japanese automakers by Chrysler chairman Lee a. Iacocca and other Auto Industry leaders have led to bomb threats and vandalism against some japanese Auto dealerships in the United states said Richard d. Recchia executive vice president and chief operating officer of Mitsubishi motor sales of America. Recchia a comments came in a speech at the 75th annual meeting of the National automobile dealers association in Dallas. A a it a grown to the Point where some Dealership personnel now fear for their own personal safety a said Recchia referring to some of his dealers reports that their businesses have been victimized by gunshots and other harassment. A when you hear these reports its sometimes hard to believe this can happen in America a Recchia said. Recchia said Many import dealers have been victims of violence in the past month. Bullets were fired into a Mitsubishi showroom in Michigan he said. A i can to help but believe that the emotional response we see today is in some Way attributable to comments from politicians and . Executives following that trip a Recchia said. Recchia the first import car executive in the associations history to give the conventions keynote address said that he a a can to help but believe that the emotional response we see today is in some Way attributable to comments from politicians and . Executives a following president Bush a recent Trade trip to Japan. Iacocca and other Auto Industry Lead ers and business executives accompanied Bush on the japanese trip. When Iacocca returned he sharply criticized the japanese for engaging in what he called unfair Trade practices. Iacocca a a comments were made in a speech to the Detroit economic club. Recchia in his speech said a emotional Calls for retaliation against Japan May bring a standing ovation at the Detroit economic club but now we arc witnessing that it has completely different and sometimes violent and senseless responses on the streets of our  Recchia a response received cordial applause from the 15,000 association delegates 90 percent of whom sell some form of foreign car in their showrooms. However some of the dealers said privately that Recchia did not Deal fairly with the Issue. They pointed to recent criticism from japanese officials who called american workers a Lazy and illiterate and who described the United states As a a Japan a  Japan s Minolta infringed on patents held by Honeywell . Jury rules by Edmund l. Andrews the new York times in a decision that could prove costly for the japanese camera Industry a Federal jury found Minolta camera co. Of Japan infringed on patents for Auto focus technology held by Honeywell inc. Of Minneapolis. The jury in Newark n.j., ordered Minolta to pay $96 million in Back royalties. Honeywell said it will pursue identical claims against 15 other Large camera companies including Canon Usa Olympus corp., Nikon inc. And Pentax corp. Besides camera equipment Honeywell says its Auto focus technology is employed by a wide Range of other equipment from camcorders to copying machines. Minolta officials reacted cautiously saying they disagreed with aspects of the decision but had not decided whether they would Appeal. A we must weigh the Cost and distraction of continuing this prolonged litigation against the pressing need to concentrate our full attention on strengthening our business and serving our customers a said Sam Kusumoto chairman of Minolta a . Subsidiary. The decision is not Likely to affect the current Market for cameras because Honeywell left the camera business without Ever using the technology. In addition the two patents found to have been infringed expire later this year. As a result the decision will at most mean that other companies might be forced to pay Back royalties. A Norman l. Stauffer a Honeywell research scientist holds three patents on Auto focus technology a the basis for Honeywell s lawsuit against Minolta. Honeywell estimates Minolta sold about a third of the equipment in the United states that has the patented technology a Market the company said was in excess of $1 billion. A this is a very big Victory a said Christopher j. Steffen executive vice president and chief financial officer of Honeywell. A we have been vindicated in this Long running Patent  he said Honeywill would seek an injunction to Stop Minolta from Selling any of its Auto focus cameras in the United states until it had paid the Back royalties and negotiated a License for the remainder of the Patent term. Auto focus systems use computer chips to focus the Lens automatically a task that previously had to be done manually. Honeywell developed its technology in the Early 1970s and obtained four patents from 1975 to 1977. By that time however the company had already quit the camera business Ana was trying to Market its technology to other manufacturers. But Minolta and Many other companies developed cameras with what they said were their own systems and refused to pay Honeywell royalties. The verdict was a partial Victory for Honeywell. The jury ruled that Only two of four patents had been infringed. It rejected arguments that Minolta had wilfully infringed its patents thereby removing the Opportunity for Honeywell to seek triple damages. Hercules reluctant sues Martin Marietta Salt Lake City a a Federal Friday unsealed a lawsuit by Hercules inc. Against Martin Marietta corp., seeking More than $450 million for alleged breach of a subcontract for the air forces upgraded Titan in rocket motor. Hercules claimed Martin Marietta the prime contractor failed to meet contract requirements in a timely manner in the program to give the Titan in a heavy lift capability for use in defense and space programs. The company also claims Martin Marietta withheld information about possible defects in previous Titan motors a which May have Lea to an april 1,1991, explosion during the first test of the Hercules Booster. The lawsuit was filed Jan. 22 in . District court in Utah. But it was placed under Seal while the firms attempted to negotiate a settlement. A this suit is brought reluctantly by Hercules but we remain interested in working toward a negotiated settlement a Thomas l. Gossage chairman and chief executive officer of Hercules said in a statement. The lawsuit asks the court to excuse Hercules from completion of the subcontract in its present form. Martin Marietta officials issuing a statement in Denver called Hercules allegations a grossly exaggerated and  the lawsuit claims Martin Marietta failed to live up to promises to cooperate and act in Good Faith with Hercules after making numerous a unreasonable and untimely changes in the scope of the work to improve the Booster. The contract was let to Hercules As the lowest bidder in 1987 and sought 15 sets of two solid rocket motors. Martin Marietta agreed to pay Hercules in the Range of $205 million for research and $517 million for their development. It also promised that Hercules would be contracted to make additional boosters if a Market developed. The lawsuit alleges that Martin Marietta failed to make Good a a follow on Purchase of 10 additional Booster sets