FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 15, 2007

Los Angeles, CA. -- For the past twenty years, TROVAN, AVID and Destron (aka DigitalAngel/HomeAgain) microchips have been used to identify pets and companion animals in the U.S. By 1993, animal control agencies, humane organizations and other pet welfare organizations recognized that a microchip incompatibility problem existed: the different microchips could not be "cross read" by the readers being provided. AIM USA took the lead in establishing and coordinating a forum of manufacturers, animal shelter organizations, humane societies and veterinary professional organizations to establish requirements for a reader standard to ensure cross compatibility in the reading of the various microchip types. The requirements were published in December 1994 and were to become the basis of the so-called "American standard."

The need for a true universal reader that works well on all the microchips in the installed base is as compelling now as it has ever been. A new comparative reader evaluation demonstrates the reason for the alarming number of reports of deficiencies in the pet microchip scanning network in the U.S. The problem has been further aggravated by the recent introduction and growing dependence of shelters on the Black Label Reader.Click here.

The first chart, entitled "U.S. Pet Scanners--Performance Evaluation," summarizes the results of the reader evaluation. Subsequent pages provide a brief description of the readers examined and a detailed reading performance evaluation of each reader on each microchip type. The AVID PowerTracker Reader (which reads all the microchip types in the U.S. installed base) is not included in the evaluation because of unavailabilty and because it has been made available by AVID only selectively to some animal control agencies.
Two of these readers are targeted specifically at vets or breeders (LID-560 and Destron Pocket Reader). The others are being marketed to vets, but also aggressively distributed to shelters, as readers "of last resort" for use in life and death situations to determine whether a recovered animal has a chip and therefore an owner. One of these has been restricted to read only certain transponder protocols for business purposes. And one (Black Label), which is being marketed as a multi-system reader, has an unacceptably short read range for several chips in the U.S. installed base and will almost certainly result in false no-reads in critical life and death situations.

Field experience with the Black Label reader, which the attached study does not show, is that the Black Label reader will on occasion mismatch the code number detected with an incorrect manufacturer or display an incorrect code number.

The LID-560 reader displays the text “CHIP DETECTED” rather than the full code number when an FDX-B transponder is present. This is being done for legal reasons. The legality of use, marketing and sales of the FDX-B (ISO) transponders which operate on 134.2 kHz is currently being litigated in the United States federal court system in three jurisdictions [Marshall, TX, Case #2:04-cv 183(TJW), Riverside, CA, Case #5:06-cv-01109-SGL-OP, New York, NY Case #06-cv-4476(VM)] by patent owners claiming that certain multi-system readers and FDX-B transponders infringe on total of five patents.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2007

Los Angeles, CA. --

AVID Identification Systems, Inc.
Hannis Stoddard, President

Dear Hannis,

This is to renew our standing offer which we have made in March 1992 to Avid to license the Trovan patented communication protocol between Trovan transponders and readers to Avid for the price of $1.00 (one dollar).

As you know, the owners of companion animals and U.S. animal welfare organizations require all readers used in the market to correctly display the code number and the manufacturer of the animal for the purpose of reuniting pets with their owners and saving lives of animals.

This requirement has been stated in the AIM Companion Animal Electronic ID User Requirements document dated 12/6/1994 in the creation of which AVID participated. The document lays the ground work for the "American Standard", specifying the three transponder protocols present in the market (Avid, Destron, and Trovan, currently distributed by AKC/CAR).

The implementation of the Trovan communication protocol in all your readers would benefit the public in general and allow you to demonstrate Avid's dedication to animal welfare, preventing unnecessary euthanasia of countless animals.

Sincerely,
Electronic Identification Devices, Ltd.
Joseph V, Masin
President

cc/ John Mays, NACA News
AMACA USA.org
Tony Bacci, AKC CAR
Dr. Janis H. Audin, AVMA
American Animal Hospital Association
Nancy Lawson, Humane Society of the United States
Becky Turner Chapman, DVM Magazine
Somyr Perry, Veterinary Practice News
Karen Wernette, AVPMCA

Contact:

EID, Ltd.

telephone: (805) 565-1288

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2007

Los Angeles, CA. --

This letter is to address certain statements made by Dr. Hannis Stoddard, President of AVID, in his continuing efforts to protect his microchip business. (see NACA NEWS, September/October 2007)

Recent comments made by Dr. Stoddard regarding the TROVAN microchip being sold by AKC Companion Animal Recovery are misleading and in certain cases factually not true.

For instance, he states that there is a permanent injunction in place in the US …..against any person for ……. selling any TROVAN microchip (TROVAN ID -100 transponder). What he fails to tell you is that the TROVAN product being sold and marketed by AKC CAR and manufactured by TROVAN is the TROVAN ID 100US transponder with lancet which has no such injunction and is non-infringing. Dr. Stoddard is well aware of this.

This is no accident. In a recent court ruling in Texas dated September 28, 2007 where AVID and another chip manufacturer (not TROVAN) have been in dispute the Judge made the following comments regarding AVID and Dr. Stoddard. “The court finds Dr. Hannis Stoddard’s trial and deposition testimony is simply not credible on key issues. This finding flows from Stoddard’s conspicuous inability to recall facts while testifying, combined with his refusal to acknowledge incontrovertible events.” The court goes on to say “that AVID intentionally withheld information from the PTO in an effort to deceive the PTO and obtain allowance of the ‘326’ patent.” Click here.

Dr. Stoddard presents a genuine problem that exists with the microchip scanning network in the U.S. today. That problem is that any veterinary practice, animal shelter, or law enforcement agency that depends on the AVID MiniTracker Scanner to protect the hundreds of thousands of pets that have been identified with the Trovan microchip since 1991, and an undetermined number of ISO microchip implanted pets, is putting the safety and well being of those pets in real jeopardy.

Scanners can excite and read chips that operate at125kHz, 128kHz and 134kHz. The idea that 128 kHz is incompatible with125kHz is a result of AVID manufacturing scanners to NOT read other chips apart from their own and Home Again. And this despite the fact that TROVAN microchips have been identifying American pets since the early 1990s. The example Mr. Stoddard used as an argument against TROVAN/AKC microchips in the market is actually not even a Trovan microchip, but an Allflex clone of the HomeAgain microchip. This year 20,000 scanners have been issued by Bayer, plus 30,000 Home Again Scanners will be retrofitted and provided in the US market announced by Home Again at the AVMA conference in Washington DC and all these scanners can and will read chips that operate at 125kHz, 128kHz and 134kHz.

There is growing recognition by most US entities that the US needs and deserves a microchip and recovery system that is truly universal and not captive to the business interests of one manufacturer, consequently putting some microchipped pets at risk.

Trovan strongly recommends that any entity in the current pet microchip scanning network that is relying on the AVID MiniTracker reader to immediately contact the AKC for an upgrade so they can adequately protect all microchipped pets.

Trovan recognized in the early nineties the need for readers that provided true universality in reading, with performance that does not arbitrarily discriminate for “business” purposes. Subsequently, AVID refused to make its encryption scheme available to other companies. Trovan has independently developed a capacity to read and correctly display AVID encrypted microchips in the readers it distributes, and has continued its devotion of resources toward this universal reader goal, expanding the microchip types detected to include ISO types of microchips. It has embodied this capability into its AKC CAR pocket reader (LID-560) and its shelter reader (GR-251).

If anyone has any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Joseph V. Masin
President,
Electronic Identification Devices, Ltd.

Contact:

EID, Ltd.

telephone: (805) 565-1288

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 20, 2007

Las Vegas, NV-- AKC, Companion Animal Recovery (AKC CAR) and Electronic ID Devices, Ltd. (EID), distributors of TROVAN® microchips in the United States, have announced their decision to form a partnership to serve American pet owners and their pets with complete identification and recovery services. AKC CAR, located in Raleigh, NC, was founded in 1995 as a not-for-profit organization managing a 24/7 recovery service for companion animals. It is the largest not-for-profit recovery service provider, storing over 3.5 million enrollment records and reuniting over 315,000 lost pets with their owners.

Through its distribution agreement with EID, AKC CAR has become the exclusive distributor of TROVAN® microchips in the United States companion animal market. The decision to partner with Trovan adds the distribution of TROVAN® transponders (microchips) to AKC CAR's services.

TROVAN® transponders were selected by AKC CAR because of their advanced technology and unmatched performance in this product category, in this application today. TROVAN® transponders have been in production since 1991, using the most modern operational and manufacturing technologies available. Trovan developed the direct bonding "must have" technology for the manufacture of transponders, eliminating superfluous components and increasing product reliability, and was first to offer a functioning single panel "walk by" reader for high traffic animal shelters.

TROVAN® transponders, together with Home Again and AVID, are part of the American standard, complying with the installed reader base used for identifying lost microchipped animals in animal shelters throughout the United States.

"We are pleased to announce the decision by American Kennel Club Companion Animal Registry to partner with our company and AKC CAR's decision to expand their activities beyond the operation of their registry and database," said Mr. Joseph Masin, President of EID. "AKC CAR has been sucessfully providing a public service since 1995, helping to reunite lost pets with their owners. Together with AKC CAR, we are dedicated to providing the best combination of hardware and service to the pubic available anywhere."

AKC CAR and EID are dedicated to responsible pet ownership and believe that by partnering they can reduce the cost of microchipping in the U.S. and increase the number of lost pets that are recovered. The American RFID standard is supported by multi-system readers distributed by HomeAgain® /Schering Plough, Avid® and TROVAN®.

For more information, please visit www.akccar.org/microchip.
Press contacts: AKC CAR -- Brett Mock 919-816-3565
EID -- Barbara Masin 805-565-1288