TECHNOLOGY BRIEFING

LEGAL

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted NTP's request formore time to respond to a review of patents at the center of adispute over Research in Motion's BlackBerry wireless e-mail device.

NTP of McLean has until Feb. 28 to submit responses to non-finalrejections of three of its patents, according to the patent office'sWeb site. The agency cut the normal two-month response time in halfafter it put the review of the NTP patents on a fast track.

INTERNET

Expedia, the largest U.S. online travel agency, will offer priceguarantees and other new services on its Web site as its user growthtrails some airline and hotel companies. The program will reimbursethe price difference to users who find lower costs online for travelexpenses within 24 hours of making a purchase on Expedia.com.

PERSONNEL

Autodesk, whose design software is used in architecture and moviespecial effects, said chief executive Carol Bartz will step downafter 14 years and be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Carl Bass.Bartz is one of the longest-serving female leaders of a U.S.technology company.

Miles R. Gilburne will leave Time Warner's board this year, makinghim the second director with ties to America Online to quit in lessthan three months. Gilburne was a director at AOL from 1999 to 2001,when AOL bought Time Warner. He follows Steve Case, AOL's co-founder, who left the board in October. Gilburne will stay until TimeWarner's next annual shareholder meeting.

International Business Machines said fourth-quarter profit rose13 percent to $3.19 billion from the fourth quarter of 2004. Salesfell 12 percent to $24.4 billion.

Intel said fourth-quarter profit rose 16 percent to $2.45 billion.Sales rose 6 percent to $10.2 billion.

Compiled from staff and news service reports.