I came across an article that states that Fish and Moore sold their rights to Falk. Hmmm. Wouldn't Gloria have known about this? How then did Moore end up with anything that would enable him to strike a deal with Leckrone?

A bluebird'

"One of my partners would refer to this as 'a bluebird,'" says Willis E. Higgins, a Palo Alto patent attorney who represents Patriot. "It's something that just comes along. A stroke of luck."

The ShBoom processor was conceived more than a decade ago by Charles Moore, who invented the "Fourth" programming language for computers, and Russell H. Fish III, a computer consultant and chip designer.

After years of working on the project, Fish and Moore sold all rights to the ShBoom processor to the late Helmut Falk, a Romanian-born engineer who co-founded DH Technology, a high-technology printer manufacturer now based in San Diego.

By several accounts, Falk poured millions of dollars into improving the ShBoom design through NanoTronics, his wholly owned company based in Eagle Point, Ore.

Falk was not known among executives at San Diego electronic firms. But business partners described him as a savvy businessman and world traveler who owned estates in San Diego, Oregon, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Florida and Puerto Rico. He spoke German, French, Italian, Spanish and English.

In 1994, NanoTronics merged with Patriot in a deal intended to combine Norris' radar technology with Falk's high-speed processor.

"We liked the idea of pairing the chip with the radar," Norris recalls.

As part of the deal, Falk received 10 million shares of Patriot's stock and took over as Patriot's chairman and chief executive. Norris, who also founded Norris Communications and American Technology, says he was happy to withdraw from Patriot's day-to-day operations.

Then, Falk died unexpectedly of cancer last July 6.

http://www.woodynorris.com/articles/sandiegouniontribune3.htm