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PHILADELPHIA — December 16, 2002 — The Thomson Corporation (TSX: TOC - News; NYSE: TOC - News) today announced that it has acquired Delphion Research, a full-text patent research solution serving professional researchers and businesses worldwide, from privately-held Delphion Inc. for a purchase price of approximately US$22 million.
Delphion Research enables business professionals to access patent information in a user-friendly format, and to leverage that information to make critical business decisions.
Delphion Research offers full-text patent documents from the world's leading patent authorities: the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, European Patent Office, World Intellectual Property Organization, and Japan Patent Information Office, as well as access to the International Patent Document Center patent collection.
This comprehensive collection provides subscribers with seamless access to over 35 million records from 70 patent offices worldwide. Delphion also offers powerful search technology that makes researching patent information effortless, and value-added analysis and productivity tools that allow users to gain new insight and improve efficiency.
"This acquisition fills an important strategic gap for Thomson. It allows us to integrate a global full-text patent research, analysis and delivery platform into our array of value-added information solutions," said Mike Tansey, Chief Executive Officer, Thomson Scientific. "The acquisition also provides Thomson the opportunity to leverage synergies across business units to reach and service both the professional research and business communities."
"We are very enthusiastic about the opportunities presented by joining Thomson," said Bob Smith, Vice President and General Manager of Delphion Research. "As a part of Thomson, with its expertise and resources, we will continue to provide innovative, robust solutions that meet and exceed our customers' expectations."
Delphion Research will become a part of the Scientific group within Thomson, and will be managed by Bob Smith from the current Delphion management team. Delphion Inc. will continue to own and manage its other software development and services businesses.
The business units that comprise Thomson Scientific include: Derwent Information — the leading authority in patent and scientific information solutions, ISI — an e-information company providing high-quality, essential information products and services for the research community, Current Drugs — a leader in the delivery of integrated information services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, ISI ResearchSoft — developer of the three most popular bibliographic software programs, and Wila-Derwent — supplier of information services in relation to patents, trademarks and industrial designs.
Delphion Inc.
Delphion Inc. provides software and services that enable companies to research, create, manage and strategically leverage intellectual property and other intangible assets.
Delphion is a core company within the Internet Capital Group (Nasdaq: ICGE - News) network. Delphion is based in the Chicago suburb of Lisle, Ill. Its main phone number is 630-799-0600, and its web site address is www.delphion.com.
The Thomson Corporation
The Thomson Corporation, with 2001 revenues of $7.2 billion, is a global leader in providing integrated information solutions to business and professional customers.
Thomson provides value-added information, software tools and applications to more than 20 million users in the fields of law, tax, accounting, financial services, higher education, reference information, corporate training and assessment, scientific research and healthcare. The Corporation's common shares are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges (TSX: TOC - News; NYSE: TOC - News).
This news release includes forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and reflect the Corporation's current expectations. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations are: actions of our competitors; failure of our significant investments in technology to increase our revenues or decrease our operating costs; failure to fully derive anticipated benefits from our acquisitions; failure to develop additional products and services to meet our customers' needs, attract new customers or expand into new geographic markets; failure to meet the special challenges involved in expansion of our operations outside North America; failure to recruit and retain high quality management and key employees; consolidation of our customers; increased self-sufficiency of our customers; increased accessibility to free or relatively inexpensive information sources; failure to maintain the availability of information obtained through licensing arrangements and changes in the terms of our licensing arrangements; changes in the general global economic conditions; inadequate protection of our intellectual property rights; an increase in our effective income tax rate; impairment loss affecting our goodwill and identifiable intangible assets recorded on our balance sheet; and failures or disruptions of our electronic delivery systems or the Internet. Additional factors are discussed in the Corporation's materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the United States from time to time. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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