Does PTSC really/still have any money in their war chest? They doled out about $26M via the divys, and certainly are holding a couple mill to cover near term expenses, so I don`t see much if any left. However, I suppose this financial circumstance wouldn`t prevent them leveraging the fact that 4 more licensees have come aboard and the money proceeds forthcoming (and they should know the approximate amount). Thus, they could IMO easily ``finance`` their way into some serious funding to support a buy-back as each new licensee was revealed, so it could be as you suggest and the buy-back is/has been underway. I sure hope so! And you are totally correct IMO that (assuming this is the case) this is what has pretty much stablized our PPS lately.

What do you think of my ``ratcheting`` theory? I suppose that if it had any teeth, we would have seen some evidence via PPS moves up (+15-20 cents) and back down to enable, again, effective quick-turn shorting. Haven`t seen it yet (without news), so either the short players haven`t figured out that there is a new ``floor`` due to a buy-back program (which is not likely IMO; I`d think they`d have visibility) OR they`re scared to short after this recent flurry of news re: new licensees (far more likely IMO) - which may suggest settlements by the J-3 soon and the probable very positive results from such an event (and a major ``short squeeze``). If this thought is correct, it brings another interesting thought: IF the shorts are feeling this building ``pressure``, certainly the J-3 are feeling more pressure as well. NICE!

And I KNOW nuttin`!

SGE