State hires high-tech fraud attorneys

Attorneys Shannon Smith and Katherine Tassi have been hired by state Attorney General Rob McKenna to fight high-tech fraud, identity theft and other scams targeting consumers, according to a news release. They have been assigned to the consumer protection division in Seattle.

Smith has been with the Attorney General's office since 1989, and is currently a senior lawyer in the utilities and transportation division.

Tassi first came to the Attorney General's office as a law clerk in the high-tech fraud unit. After receiving her law degree from the University of Washington, she returned to the office in 2002 as an assistant attorney general, providing legal representation to the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Goodyear picks Envision product

Seattle-based Envision Telephony Inc. said Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company affiliate, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Germany, selected the Envision Click2Coach product to improve customer support in the German tire market.

The company will use the German-language version of Click2Coach, now available directly through the company or its partner, Almato GmbH in Germany. Almato GmbH is a full service partner that promotes, sells and supports Click2Coach throughout Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Goodyear Dunlop chose the Envision solution for its ability to train agents for higher cross-selling and up-selling. The Envision Click2Coach solution includes Envision(tm) Quality Monitoring and Envision eLearning and is a set of training, quality monitoring and evaluation tools to coach agents.

Artemis files trademark suit against Microsoft

Freeland-based Artemis Solutions Group, which makes smart-card and biometric products, filed a lawsuit against Microsoft Inc., and the newly formed division, Microsoft IP Ventures.

The suit alleges willful and deliberate trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition with regard to BioCert, a registered word trademark owned by ASG.

Microsoft had also been using the name BioCert for its biometric identity authentication technology, but changed the name to Microsoft Biometric ID following the suit, which is still pending.

Overland Storage buys Zetta Systems

San Diego-based Overland Storage Inc. acquired Woodinville-based Zetta Systems Inc., a developer of real-time data protection software for digital storage solutions in a $9 million cash transaction.

Zetta's software supports an enterprise-caliber primary storage appliance. Its unlimited, instantaneous snapshot and replication technology delivers block and file-based protection with failover, the company said. In addition, Zetta software also provides thin-provisioning, a feature that enables system administrators to virtualize their storage resources.

Wildseed bought by AOL

Kirkland-based Wildseed Ltd., which makes phone customization software, has been acquired by America Online Inc.

Wildseed will join the AOL Wireless group, and Wildseed CEO Eric Engstrom will become AOL Wireless senior vice president for wireless products. In a statement, AOL said Wildseed employees will be integrated into AOL's current Seattle offices.

Laplink releases Everywhere 4

Kirkland-based Laplink released the retail version of Laplink Everywhere 4. Laplink Everywhere combines remote control with a Web interface for remote access from any Web-enabled device, the company said. Users can connect to a remote PC quickly and easily from the widest range of computers and handheld devices.

The company added that Laplink Everywhere allows the user to access a remote Windows-based PC from Windows, Mac, or Linux-based computers and from Pocket PC, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian-based devices, through firewalls and routers, with no special configuration needed.

Fidler new Digeo CEO

Kirkland-based Digeo Inc. said former Sony executive Mike Fidler has been named chief executive officer of the company.

While at Sony, Fidler was most recently senior vice president of Sony Electronics' Home Products Division. In this role, Fidler led Sony's largest business group and was responsible for marketing televisions, home audio/video and both IT and professional displays, with a specific focus on HDTV and set-top boxes.

Digeo provides media center platforms to North American cable operators.

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