FASB Defendant in Suit Alleging Antitrust Violations and Patent Misappropriation

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Silicon Economics, Inc. yesterday filed suit in federal district court in San Jose, CA, against the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), charging it with antitrust violations and with willfully attempting to misappropriate patented technology belonging to the company (Case No. CV10-01939 of United States District Court for the Northern District of California). FASB is a private, non-governmental body, located in Norwalk, CT, that sets financial accounting standards for public companies in the U.S. A copy of the suit is available at www.siliconeconomics.com.

The lawsuit concerns Silicon Economics' EarningsPower Accounting™ (EPA™) – a patented method developed by the company to improve the accuracy, validity, and usefulness of financial statements. Silicon Economics recommended the merits of EPA to FASB in response to FASB's request for public comment on the objectives of financial accounting (No. 1260-001, July 6, 2006). FASB claims that its website terms and conditions gave it ownership of Silicon Economics' technology, even though such terms were not part of FASB's invitation for public comment or otherwise disclosed to Silicon Economics.

"FASB's unlawful attempt to appropriate SEI's intellectual property undermines innovation and competition, and harms the US economy," said Perry J. Narancic of Narancic & Katzman, PC in Menlo Park, CA, counsel for Silicon Economics, Inc., "SEI will defend its intellectual property vigorously."

"FASB's anti-competitive act harms our company and the public, particularly in light of the current economic situation in our country," said Joel Jameson, founder and president of Silicon Economics, Inc.  Mr. Jameson has been among FASB's most vocal critics in recent years. Now, Silicon Economics' solution to address the inadequacies with "fair value" accounting, endorsed by FASB, has gained new urgency. Mr. Jameson, as well as experts such as Lord Turner, head of the British Financial Services Authority, counterpart to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has cited fair-value accounting as a significant factor in the recent economic crisis. Under fair-value accounting, net income is subject to significant volatility resulting from the inclusion of one-time gains and losses, and thus does not reflect company performance capability.

About Silicon Economics, Inc.

Silicon Economics, Inc. (Los Altos, CA), www.siliconeconomics.com, conducts fundamental research and development in finance and accounting, and develops and markets technologies that improve economic decision-making.

For a very long time, accounting has been in a dilemma believing that either the balance sheet or the income statement can be accurate, valid, and useful, but not both. Under "fair value," the accounting boards have been shifting the emphasis toward the balance sheet, diminishing the accuracy and validity of the net income measurement on the income statement, because of the inclusion of one-time gains and losses. EPA, SEI's proprietary technology, resolves this dilemma by calculating recurring income associated with assets, which is more useful to investors and analysts because recurring income is based on long- term experience and expectations, rather than short-term valuation fluctuations. Most importantly, it produces more accurate EPS (earnings-per-share) estimates and analysis.

EarningsPower Accounting and EPA are trademarks of Silicon Economics, Inc. and are the subject of United States Patent 7,620,573.

SOURCE Silicon Economics, Inc.