The rush of foreign countries whose oil companies have staked claims includes China, which controls one of the six potential fields in the gulf.

Indeed, in the Ford-Firestone fight, both companies have staked moral motives for their actions.

The company is staking its future on a demand for more timely and personalized yet less specific information from gadgets and computers.

Since the 2003 investigation of the area for diamonds, some 20 companies have staked claims in the area, forming joint ventures.

Few companies or banks have staked their futures on the Soviet Union.

With One Times Square, the company will stake its claim as a new voice of the square, he said.

Any company, or for that matter any individual prospector, can stake a claim on Federal land and mine metals there virtually free of charge.

The first white company staked claim in the region in 1868.

Throughout the last ten years, the company has staked a new course now focusing exclusively on building motor yachts ranging from 30-40 feet.

But both companies are staking more than money on the program.