Palm, Inc. announced that the U.S. District Court in Rochester, N.Y., rejected a recent motion made by Xerox Corporation related to a claim of patent infringement. The court refused to halt the sale of Palm Powered handhelds in the United States and, further, rejected Xerox’s effort to set a trial date to determine damages Xerox claims it is owed. Calling the latter motion “premature,” the court noted that Palm’s appeal of the decision is still pending. The court actions occurred late Friday, February 22. Xerox had filed a lawsuit in 1997 alleging Palm’s use of Graffiti handwriting symbols violates Xerox’s U.S. Patent No. 5,596,656 relating to computerized handwriting recognition. Palm maintains that it does not infringe the Xerox patent and that the patent is invalid.