Gillette sues Sharper Image over patent

THE REGION

Gillette Co. filed suit against Sharper Image Corp., asking a federal judge to declare that the Boston shaving giant doesn't infringe patents held by the San Francisco retailer for a vibrating razor handle. In January and February, after Gillette said it was introducing the M3Power, a razor with a battery-powered pulsating handle, Sharper Image phoned, e-mailed, and wrote to Gillette informing the company that its newest razor infringed four Sharper Image patents, according to the complaint filed in Boston federal court. Gillette states that it wrote to Sharper Image on Feb. 4 detailing why M3Power doesn't infringe those patents. Nonetheless, Sharper Image sent Gillette another e-mail Monday. Gillette plans to launch M3Power this month and filed the complaint in hopes of preventing a full-blown patent fight. ''Our technical and marketplace leadership is driven by our own intellectual property, and no one else's," said Gillette spokesman Eric Kraus. Sharper Image did not respond to requests for a comment. (Naomi Aoki)

Technology Square at MIT refinances

Technology Square at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, a seven-building, 1.1 million-square-foot office, laboratory, and retail complex was refinanced this week with a 10-year $225-million loan from ING Investment Management and CIGNA Investments Inc. The Boston office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP arranged first-mortgage financing for Technology Square Finance LLC, the owner. Tenants include Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Forrester Research, and MIT. (Thomas C. Palmer Jr.)

Perini net income dips in first quarter

Perini Corp. reported first-quarter net income of $11.2 million, or 44 cents a share, down 1.7 percent compared with $11.4 million, or 48 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue climbed 65 percent to $480.3 million from $291.3 million, driven by a more than threefold increase in its management-services business, which benefited from large reconstruction projects in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Framingham-based general contracting and real-estate development services company continues to expect overall growth in 2004, with earnings of 90 cents to $1 a share on revenue of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion. (Dow Jones)

THE NATION

Morningstar files plans for $100m IPO

Mutual fund research firm Morningstar Inc. said it plans to sell up to $100 million of its stock in an initial public offering. Morningstar, one of the first firms to offer information on the $7.6 trillion mutual fund industry where some 95 million Americans invest their life savings, revealed its plans in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The number of shares to be sold and the price range has not been determined. The Chicago-based company said it will sell shares through Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, and William Blair & Co. (Reuters)

Mortgage rates rise 7th-straight week

Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages rose for the seventh-straight week, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said after the Federal Reserve suggested on Tuesday that it may be poised to raise interest rates sooner than expected. Freddie Mac said 30-year mortgage rates averaged 6.12 percent in the latest week, up from 6.01 percent a week ago, its highest since 6.16 percent in the Sept. 12, 2003, week. Fifteen-year mortgages also rose to an average of 5.47 percent from 5.35 percent the prior week, its highest mark since the Sept. 5, 2003, week when they averaged 5.77 percent. One-year adjustable rate mortgages rose slightly to an average of 3.76 percent from 3.75 percent. A year ago, 30-year mortgage rates averaged 5.62 percent, 15-year mortgages 4.97 percent, and the ARM 3.66 percent. (Reuters)

Charter One employees to get about $1b

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, the United Kingdom's second-largest bank by assets, said it will pay Charter One Financial Inc.'s executives and staff about $1 billion to buy their stock as it takes over the US lender. Charter One chief executive Charles Koch and other executives own about 9 million shares worth as much as $400 million. Other employees own stock worth about $500 million. All will be eligible to sell their stock for the $44.50 a share Royal Bank agreed to pay to buy Charter One, said a spokeswoman for the acquiring bank. Royal Bank on Tuesday agreed to pay $10.5 billion for Charter One. (Bloomberg)

THE WORLD

EU central bank leaves rates unchanged

The European Central Bank left interest rates untouched for the 12 countries using the euro, sticking by its view that the economy already is turning up and doesn't need a push from lower rates. Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet said after the ECB left its key refinancing rate at 2 percent that, with inflation in check and a recovery on the way, the bank wasn't leaning toward a rate move for now, either up or down. Economic indicators still provide ''mixed evidence," he said. But ''most recent information has been more encouraging, with the latest euro area survey data offering more positive signals. The conditions for a recovery are in place," he told a news conference after the bank's 18-member governing council met in Helsinki. (AP)

Ahold says insurer wants to void policy

Royal Ahold NV, the Dutch supermarket operator that overstated profit for three years, said one of its insurers is trying to void a policy covering lawsuits against directors and officers of its U.S. Foodservice unit, where most of the earnings inflation took place. AIG Europe NV, a unit of American International Group Inc., the world's biggest insurer, claims some statements made by Ahold and U.S. Foodservice when the policy was issued were untrue, according to the grocer's annual report, posted on its website. The insurer has summoned the food retailer to appear in court, the report said. Ahold, which bought the policy in 2000 when it purchased U.S. Foodservice, has said it holds Jim Miller, the unit's former chief executive, and two other former managers responsible for damages relating to fraud at the unit. (Bloomberg)

. . .Etc.

Cytyc Corp. stock fell after Quest Diagnostics Inc. of New Jersey, one of its key customers, signed a contract with a Cytyc competitor. Shares of Boxborough's Cytyc, which makes cervical cancer screening systems, fell 11.6 percent, or $2.58, to $19.75. Cytyc obtained about 22 percent of its 2003 revenue of $303.1 million from Quest . . . NaviSite Inc. said it agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets and liabilities of Surebridge Inc., a privately held Lexington provider of managed application services for midmarket companies. Andover-based NaviSite will acquire the assets in exchange for two promissory notes totaling $39.5 million -- subject to certain adjustments based on the financials of Surebridge at closing -- 3 million common shares of NaviSite, and the assumption of certain liabilities at closing, which is expected this month . . . Raytheon Co., the world's largest missile maker, said it plans to add about 1,500 engineering workers, or 1.9 percent of its current work force, this year. The Waltham company will have 79,500 workers by year-end, up from 78,000 last year, Raytheon spokesman James Fetig said. About 200 of the new jobs will be in Massachusetts . . . After slower-than-expected April sales, Ford Motor Co. has launched new incentives of $1,000 plus no-interest financing on its sport-utility vehicles and minivans. The program is called ''The Choice" and gives buyers alternative incentives on the vehicles. (Globe wire services)