Keith Barber, NPD Intelect new product development dir., promoted to new position of NPD Hardlines new products vp.

Loewe’s new U.S. subsidiary is weighing push into projection TV and home A/V systems as part of effort to burnish German manufacturer’s brand name here, said Paul Fredrickson, Loewe America Exec. Mktg. Vp. Loewe America subsidiary, which will be based in Plymouth, Mass. and formally debut Jan. 1, was formed after SonicBlue decided against renewing licensing agreement it inherited with acquisition of Sensory Science earlier this year. Fredrickson, along with Loewe America Pres. Kevin Sullivan, both of whom had been employed by Sensory Science, will head subsidiary, which will consist of dozen employees at start. SonicBlue is to continue selling Loewe sets through year-end.

Videogame industry is “poised to begin one of its strongest periods ever,” with launch of GameCube and Xbox and continued success of PlayStation 2 (PS2), Recoton Chmn.-CEO Robert Borchardt told financial analysts in conference call Tues. to discuss company’s 3rd quarter results.

THQ signed worldwide licensing agreement with Intellivision Productions granting it rights to publish handheld videogames via its THQ Wireless division based on several Intellivision properties. Deal gives Calabasas Hills, Cal., game maker access to more than 50 titles from industry’s earliest days, including Armor Battle, Astrosmash, Night Stalker, Shark! Shark!, Space Armada, Space Battle, Triple Action, Utopia. Intellivision introduced one of industry’s first videogame console systems in 1980 and said it sold more than 3 million of those systems and published 125 games for console before exiting arena. Astrosmash, first title under agreement, is scheduled to be released this holiday season in U.S. for Motorola i85 and i50sx. THQ has been one of game industry’s most active players in emerging wireless game field. Separately, THQ said it started shipping Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius for Game Boy Advance and PC.

Electronic Arts began shipping E-rated (Everyone) videogame FIFA Soccer 2002: Major League Soccer for PC ($39.99), PlayStation ($49.99), PlayStation 2 ($59.99). Videogame maker in Redwood City, Cal., said it expected to ship version for GameCube later this month.

SRS Labs announced release Tues. of step-up TruSurround “XT” technology. Upgrade adds 3 audio enhancement techniques to basic TruSurround, which processes Dolby Digital or DTS signal through 2-speaker audio systems or headphones. New features of XT include dialog clarity and deep bass enrichment functions. XT also adds SRS’s “WOW” technology, which is said to reproduce wider and taller sound image field.

In first 3 days after release Microsoft’s Windows XP sold through 300,000 copies at retail, research firm NPD Intelect said Tues. Total for Oct. 25-27 exceeded that of Windows Millenium Edition (200,000) in Sept. 2000, but was 100,000 below sales for Windows 98 in same time period, NPD said.

Special treat for Star Wars fans comes Fri., said distributor 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Tues. On Nov. 9, owners of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace DVD will be able to use disc’s PC link to see previews of forthcoming Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Preview is locked on DVD and needs PC connection to Internet to unlock it for viewing. Studio said preview was different from trailers in theaters, with never-before-seen footage.

U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) not only would be fully funded by patent and trademark fees but also would be able to retain all funds collected and keep them free from congressional appropriators under reauthorization bill that passed Tues. in House. HR-2047 by House Judiciary Intellectual Property Subcommittee Chmn. Coble (R-N.C.) passed on voice vote. No members objected to bill, which also would require PTO to dedicate some of its funding for computer upgrades and is intended to create speedier patent approvals. Several years ago PTO was converted to wholly fee-supported agency with no federal appropriation, but congressional appropriators retained right to use portion of PTO’s collected fees to fund other govt. operations. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated earlier this year that since 1992, “more than $600 million in PTO fee revenue has been diverted, rescinded or otherwise not made available to the agency as a result of these practices.” President Bush’s FY 2002 budget estimated that annual fee diversions would be at least $184 million annually beginning in FY 2003 and running through FY 2006. Coble and others have noted that as more PTO funds have been diverted, the pendency of patents has increased, with an agency forecast now of 3 years, 2- 1/2 months. PTO would be free of appropriators but would have spending condition if HR-2047 became law. Patent examiners have long complained about the poor performance of PTO’s computer search tools, EAST (Examiner’s Automated Search Tool) and WEST (Web-Based Examiner Search Tool). HR-2047 would require PTO to spend $50 million to upgrade its search engines, as well as convert to full electronic filing and processing of patent and trademark applications. That $50 million would come from $1.198 billion CBO anticipated PTO would raise in application fees in 2002. Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee today (Wed.) will hold hearing on former Cal. Rep. James Rogan (R) to be PTO dir. He lost bid for re-election last year, and his nomination has been before the Senate for some time without action.

3DO, videogame maker based in Redwood City, Cal., started shipping Cubix -- Robots for Everyone: Race ‘n Robots for PlayStation. Title is first in series of games from company that is based on new 3D CGI-animated series Cubix -- Robots for Everyone that appears on Kids’ WB.