The Chicago papers had a few IP-related articles this week. First, the Chicago Tribune reported – click here for the story — that Chicago software company SPSS is in a trademark dispute with its co-founder and former chairman, Norman Nie. Nie has informed SPSS that he believes he owns SPSS’s trademark, which he licensed to SPSS beginning in 1976. Nie is reportedly offering to sell SPSS the mark for $20M.

Second, the Tribune reported – click here for the story – that Motorola and Metrologic Instruments settled their patent disputes regard bar code scanning and mobile computing technology for an undisclosed amount and a limited-term cross-licensing agreement. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a similar story – click here to read it — and reported that Motorola entered the dispute with Metrologic based upon its 2006 acquisition of Symbol Technologies.