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Kenworth to hire 250 at Renton plant

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SEATTLE — Kenworth Truck will hire about 250 people this summer as it ramps up production at its Renton plant.

Company representatives will accept applications during a job fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at WorkSource Renton, 919 S.W. Grady Way, Suite 125.

Kenworth, owned by Bellevue-based Paccar, needs assemblers, painters, forklift drivers, maintenance mechanics and electricians. Positions pay between $11 and nearly $24 an hour, according to a news release from the Washington state Employment Security Department.

The hiring comes three months after Phoenix-based Interstate Equipment Leasing placed an order for 3,000 Kenworth cabs.

Spam Arrest seeks end to trademark challenge

SEATTLE — Spam Arrest yesterday filed a legal brief that asked for an end to Hormel Food's federal trademark action against the Seattle-based software company.

Hormel, which makes Spam lunchmeat, filed last year with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office a challenge to Spam Arrest's trademark registration and use of the mark. Aside from Hormel, Spam Arrest is the only other company to receive a trademark that includes the word "spam."

"No reasonable person would confuse canned meat with computer software," the brief said. It also notes that while Spam Arrest sells its software exclusively online, Hormel's canned-meat product is sold in grocery stores.

 
Nation / World

U.S. seeks new ruling on softwood lumber

OTTAWA — The United States yesterday asked a NAFTA trade panel to reconsider its ruling that Washington, D.C., failed to prove U.S. companies were hurt by growing Canadian shipments of softwood lumber.

The U.S. International Trade Commission also asked the North American Free Trade Agreement panel for more time to recalculate its claim that Canadian imports of fir, spruce and pine threatened to injure the U.S. lumber industry.

Canada's April 29 victory before the NAFTA panel disappointed the United States but renewed moves toward a negotiated settlement in the long-running dispute between the two countries.

By ruling there was no proof U.S. timber companies were threatened with injury, the NAFTA panel rejected a major basis for U.S. antidumping and countervailing duties against $6 billion worth of Canadian wood imported each year to supply a booming U.S. housing market. Those duties have averaged around 27 percent since 2001.

Shell reduces earnings by $203 million

LONDON — Royal Dutch/Shell Group reduced its 2003 earnings by $203 million yesterday, in an annual report delayed by two months because of the scandal arising from the company's downgrading of its oil and gas reserves.

Yet even as it sought to restore its battered reputation, Shell suffered another blow when a U.S. refinery said it had supplied Shell gas stations in parts of Louisiana and Florida with gasoline that contained potentially damaging amounts of sulfur.

Shell said that none of the senior executives ousted after the furor over oil reserves would receive annual bonuses for 2003.

United rescinds fare increase for 2nd time

LOS ANGELES — United Airlines, the world's second-largest carrier, yesterday canceled a $10 fare increase made Wednesday on most round-trip ticket prices after a day, and a week after rescinding a similar move to help cover rising fuel costs.

An attempt by major carriers to raise fares was scrapped last week, mainly because Northwest Airlines, the No. 4 U.S. carrier, declined to fully match the higher prices.

"It looks like trying to get a fuel charge through is just not going to happen," said Terry Trippler, who tracks fares for his Minneapolis-based Internet travel agency. "About all they can do is further restrict the number of seats they sell at these low fares."

Compiled from Seattle Times business staff and Reuters