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CONTENTS:

1. Article: E-commerce and EDI
2. Case Study: BodyCode, a clothing manufacturer, biz-biz & biz-consumer site
3. A LEGAL PERSPECTIVE: Intellectual Property Basics: Part I - NEW
4. IMS News: New clients, Veridicom and Kinyo
5. ABOUT IMS

1. Article: E-commerce and EDI

Who needs an e-commerce system?

Often, when we speak to large corporate clients about the electronic exchange of data and we advise them to enter the world of e-commerce, the immediate rejoinder is: "But we don't need an e-commerce system. We are using (or are implementing) EDI."

What exactly is EDI, and why doesn't it always solve the problem?

EDI stands for "Electronic Data Interchange." According to Ted Haynes in his "Electronic Commerce Dictionary": "Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is the exchange of standardized document forms between computer systems for business use" In other words, it refers to the implementation of certain standard procedures for coding business documents - such as purchase orders and invoices - and for their transmission from one company, or office, to another.

These standard procedures offer vendors and their customers a convenient and effective method of linking their computing infrastructures, eliminating any problems caused by differences in systems and document formats.

“It's still a great system”, I acknowledge to my clients, “but only for large corporate entities, but what about your smaller clients? They can’t all afford EDI”

Having an EDI system won't go far if you have customers who are not in the fortune 500. Unless a company’s offering is for an extremely niche product in a small vertical market and its customer base in no more than a certain number of corporate giants, a sizable portion of its daily sales will originate from companies too small to implement EDI.

Business-to-business electronic transactions are becoming More commonplace throughout the world. According to recent Projections by industry analysts, business-to-business e-commerce transactions may exceed $176 billion in value by the year 2001. Through electronic transactions, businesses have been able to streamline business communications and applications, and to effect substantial cuts in operating costs.

For a number of years, EDI has been vaunted as the system that has made the performance of these tasks possible. But on account of the high costs involved in installing and implementing EDI systems, and the highly complex nature of these systems, many companies were excluded from participation.

However, thanks to the openness of the Internet, e-commerce is within the reach of everyone.

Questions/comments please e-mail us at: editor@imssoft.com.

2. Case Study: BODY CODE - New Doors open through e-commerce

Body Code, a manufacturer of girls’ surfer-style active- wear, recently contracted IMS to do their entire e-commerce site. This large, three-phase project includes the creation of a new interactive e-commerce Web site that will handle business-to-consumer and business-to-business orders when completed.

Phase I of the project entails the creation of a site targeted towards girls between the ages of 13 and 20. The site will include newsletters, cool links and contests, and a bulletin board service.

In phase II, the site will branch off to handle consumer orders. This will allow the girls, their parents and their friends to shop for Body Code clothing on-line, and to join Body Code’s ClubCode for discounts, gifts and prizes.

In the final phase, IMS will set up a business-to-business branch of the site to better serve current clients and enable the company to service smaller stores and boutiques. Through business-to-business e-commerce, Body Code will be able to expand its market to meet the needs of smaller businesses without the need to hire a massive sales force to service them. These new clients will be able to check on all aspects of orders through the Web site. With the ability to purchase products on-line, these smaller shops will be able to purchase merchandise at prices that are competitive with the large chain stores.

The Body Code site is being promoted through an aggressive direct-mail and advertising campaign. This new e-commerce Web site will open the doors to a whole new market that could potentially add up to thousands of new clients and stores that Body Code would not have been able to otherwise reach.

3. NEW SECTION:

This month we are pleased to introduce a new section, focused on the legal issues in new media. James Talbott, Senior Partner of Talbott & Talbott will be contributing his expert legal advise on issues that plague us in the new media arena. If you have any questions you can e-mail him at Legaleditor@imssoft.com

We hope you enjoy this new section.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BASICS: PART I

Today, most companies and individuals realize that intellectual property assets are a valuable commodity. In general, there are four ways to protect these assets: copyright, trademark, patent, and trade secret. Each of these methods of protection are governed by different laws and tend to be suited for a certain type of intellectual property, although some IP assets may be capable of being placed in one or more categories.

In general a copyright is used to protect a non-utilitarian original work of authorship that are fixed in any tangible medium. The term of a copyright for an individual is the life of the author plus 75 years. After this, the work falls into the public domain unless the term is extended by law. The important fact to understand in dealing with copyrights is that a copyright does not prevent independent creation of an exact work. It is certainly unlikely that someone could create an exact work without copying another’s work, but it could happen.

Patents, on the other hand, are used to protect any new and useful process, machine, manufacture or composition of matter. A patent term is generally 20 years from the date of the filing of the application of the patent. One of the main differences between a copyright and a patent is that a patent grants the owner a monopoly in the patented invention. Patents do prevent independent creation.

Trade secrets are exactly that, secrets that are not generally known in the industry and it gives the holder of the secret a competitive advantage. Trade secrets have no term, they last as long as the secret can be kept secret. Once divulged, even by a disgruntled employee under a confidentiality agreement, the secret is lost. The holder of the trade secret’s only recourse is to sue the divulger of the information.

Trademarks and service marks, are designations that companies use on their products and services to the public. There is no set term for trademarks and service marks. The are valid as long as they are used in commerce. In order for a trademark or service mark to be registered with the Patent and Trademark Office, the mark must have been used (or intended to be used) in interstate commerce. Marks used exclusively in intrastate commerce are not eligible for registration with the PTO.

In future articles some of the finer points of the above protection schemes will be discussed.

James Talbot
Senior Partner
Talbot & Talbot
Legaleditor@imssoft.com

4. IMS News: New clients, Veridicom and Kinyo

In the past month we have been busy signing-up new clients. In addition to BodyCode we will be designing e-commerce sites for Veridicom and Kinyo.

Veridicom: Based in Santa Clara, California, USA, Veridicom Inc. was founded in 1996 by telecommunications equipment Giant, Lucent technologies, respected venture capital firm U.S. Venture Partners, and start-up veteran Thomas Rowley. The first Lucent spin-off, Veridicom was formed to develop market applications for the breakthrough fingerprint identification technology developed at Bell Labs, Lucent's research and development arm.

Veridicom is the result of a convergence of an identified market need and a technology development that meets that need. U.S. Venture Partners and Rowley were looking for a way to solve the electronic commerce identification problem. At the same time, Bell Labs was looking for a way to take new identification technology developed in their labs to market. They joined forces to form Veridicom.

This union is creating a whole new category of products which represent a giant leap in the basic enabling characteristics of fingerprint identification technology - in price, performance, and applications. Veridicom is redefining the fingerprint as a replacement for signatures, so you can prove who you are in a uniquely personal way. The result will be to enable a whole host of new applications that will enhance many areas of our lives.

Kinyo: Established in 1979, Kinyo’s founders took advantage of what they saw as an opportunity to better a small but functional piece of the VCR, the video tape rewinder. This niche turned out to be the foundation of a multi-million dollar business. Kinyo has since become a world leader in this market. They have successfully created alliances with various major OEM’s including electronic industry leaders like, Thomson Electronics, White Westinghouse, Zenith and Maxell. Through these relationships and their private label Kinyo supplies 75% of the worldwide rewinder markets.

In 1995, Kinyo took another leap by introducing a complete line of multimedia speaker systems. The Kinyo multimedia speakers have received high praises for their design, quality, and value. As the prime manufacturer of its speaker products, Kinyo has the capability of addressing specific needs of its diverse customer base. From high volume OEM accounts to low volume system integrators, mass merchants or small retailers, Kinyo is able to sell speakers in a wide range of price and performance.

5. ABOUT IMS

Information Management Systems Inc. (IMS) has been a developer of mission-critical business solutions since 1980. The client list includes large corporate entities like CompUSA, Insight Direct, HiVal and Computer Gate. Since its inception, IMS has become a worldwide solutions provider with three operating divisions; IMS Internet Services Group, IMS Language Group, and IMS Applications Group.

The IMS e-Commerce solution is based on a tool-set called the Open Commerce Integration Suite. This tool-set provides clients with a secure order processing network, a Web-based storefront, along with a 24/7 network operations center with complete failover capabilities. With two offices (Los Angeles and Dallas) and over 40 computer professionals, IMS offers it's clients hundreds of years of aggregate experience in systems design, database integration and interface design. The head office is located in a company- owned building, in Sherman Oaks, CA. Supported by the office in Dallas, it develops, markets and supports its own business application software.

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