Good morning Robert. I have tried to avoid communicating with you too frequently as I can only imagine how busy you must be with the legal actions underway. To be honest, we are building a new house and since I chose to do my own framing and wiring I have been too busy to monitor progress in our legal proceedings. We are now in the drywall and painting stage (I can't lift sheet rock and my hands don't fit a paint brush) so I have spent the last couple of days trying to catch up.
I anxiously await the markman in January. A favorable ruling, which I have no doubt will occur, will certainly provide impetus for infringers to settle. The recent discovery ruling was, in my view, an immediate impetus to infringers to settle before the markman raises the cost of their holdout. I guess my questions at this point are:
1. Are we taking a "harder line" with holdouts and those who push us to the limit in terms of what we are willing to settle for?
2. e.Digital has eluded to "actions that will make e.Digital more appealing to large investors in past communications. Are we getting close to announcements in that area? Are these actions different than and separate from the legal process?
3. Finally, can you provide an update on our ongoing evu sales/development. Is evu still a viable product or have we decided our future is in monetizing our patent portfolio?
I am hopeful you can provide some insights although I know you are severely constrained as to what information you can provide. I am sure you understand shareholders crave information and it seems to have been a while since we were given something substantive to digest. Thanks again and remember I will be the first to recommend you for the big corner office on the 49th floor of e.Digital tower when we finally break out.
Kirk
Robert called me late this afternoon and we talked for about 15 or 20 minutes. Obviously there was much he could not comment on, but what he did tell me has me more excited about my investment than I have been in a long time. First, the evu is not dead but is definitely suffering from the hard times that have fallen on the airline industry. He did say that we had some good meetings at the recent AIX and that we are now in the position where most of our evu's in service are out of warranty and we can, therefore, expect an increase in repair and service revenues. I saw this as nothing of significance and certainly nothing that would excite me as a long time shareholder. My enthusiasm jumped sharply when we discussed the recent discovery ruling and the January 28th markman hearing. Robert cautioned that we cannot read too much into the recent ruling, but pointed out that the court used verbage from our brief to shoot down the defendants' obvious attempt to delay. What he said next may be old news but because I have been tied up with building our new home was new and exciting to me. To paraphrase 'we will entertain any defendants who want to come to us with a large check in hand and want to talk in serious terms about settlement but we are going to the markman. We are going to find out where we stand so we can move on. We feel very good about our position but obviously there is no way to know how the court is going to rule.'
The inportant point to me is that we are not going to play games. No nusiance settlements. No defendants leading us around by the nose. Win or lose we are going forward.
I apologize if this is old news but perhaps there are others who are as far behind the power curve as I am. January 28 is the hearing date - only the judge knows how long it will take for the ruling to hit. Go edig...
