NEW YORK (AP) — Settling a copyright dispute closely watched in the financial news industry, a judge on Thursday ordered a Web site to delay disseminating the stock recommendations of financial services firms long enough so that the firms can alert their clients first. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote ruled that Theflyonthewall.com Inc. must wait to publish the financial recommendations of Barclays Capital Inc., Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley Inc. “Fly’s core business is its free-riding off the sustained, costly efforts by the firms and other investment institutions to generate equity research that is highly valued by investors,” the judge said. She said the company did no equity research of its own. A lawyer for the company did not immediately return a call for comment. The financial companies in 2006 sued the New Jersey corporation for copyright infringement and misappropriation, citing Theflyonthewall.com as the most systematic and egregious of the unauthorized redistributors of their reports, the judge wrote. Cote said the online subscription newsfeed that boasts it provides “the most comprehensive database of analyst trading calls, events, and syndicate information on the Web” must now wait to report the firms’ recommendations until 30 minutes after the stock exchange opens, or wait for two hours if the reports are initially released while the market is open. In her lengthy written decision, Cote rejected the company’s argument that it now publishes the recommendations only after they have become “public” and free for the taking because they emerge through other media, chat rooms, “blast IMs” or other sources. “The fact that others also engage in unlawful behavior does not excuse a party’s own illegal conduct,” Cote wrote. She noted that at least one mainstream publisher of financial news has said it is watching the litigation against Theflyonthewall.com closely and will adjust its practices based on the outcome of the litigation. The judge said the firms have shown that the early distribution of their recommendations by others had contributed to the loss of incentive to generate reports on companies, causing them to cut their analyst staffs and budgets significantly in the last five years. Competitors of Theflyonthewall.com include Briefing.com, StreetAccount.com, TTN, StreetInsider.com, TheStreet.com, Midnight Trader and Jagnotes.com, the judge said. Cote wrote that it will be up to the financial firms to make sure other companies are not also publishing the recommendations before they can distribute them to their customers. If the firms fail to take reasonable steps to stop the systematic, unauthorized misappropriation of their recommendations by others, Theflyonthewall.com can apply in a year to modify or vacate the judge’s order, Cote said.
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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BEIJING (AP) — Lin Xiuying believes her daughter bled to death after being gang-raped two years ago by a group of thugs that had ties to the police in their southern Chinese town. For more than a year, the illiterate mother appealed to various government departments in Fujian province’s Mingqin county, pleading for someone to take a closer look at the death of 25-year-old Yan Xiaoling that police blamed on an ectopic pregnancy. Lin, 50, was sobbing outside a government office last summer when she met self-taught legal expert Fan Yanqiong. Fan took down the details of the case from Lin and then posted them online. Two others, You Jingyou and Wu Huaying, spoke to the mother and posted their video interview online. On Friday, the three were in court awaiting a verdict on charges of making false accusations, which carries a sentence of up to three years in jail. It is the latest example of Chinese Internet users being targeted for their budding grass-roots activism – ordinary people spreading the word about grievances from every corner of the country with postings on Twitter, microblogs and other Web sites. “Netizens are using the Internet to talk about injustice,” said Liu Xiaoyuan, You’s lawyer. “But local officials just use their public power to suppress them.” Dozens of bloggers showed up outside Mawei Distrist People’s Court on Friday in Fuzhou city where the verdict was to be announced, tweeting constantly and posting photos from the scene online. They reportedly were met by more than 100 uniformed and plainclothes police. The case was indefinitely postponed. China blocks online materials it deems to be harmful or pornographic, which frequently includes information that contradicts the views of the ruling Communist Party. Such restrictions prompted Internet giant Google to announce in January that it may close China-based Google.cn because it no longer wanted to cooperate with Beijing’s Internet censorship. But there is a vibrant community of tech-savvy users who can easily hop over the “Great Firewall” that blocks access to sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. They are a minority of the 384 million people online in China but among the most vocal: young, educated, liberal-minded and unafraid of questioning the Communist government. Twitter in particular has been harnessed by Chinese users who revel in having a forum where they can speak freely about politically sensitive matters – in 140 characters or less, of course. “With the help of new technology, it’s become quite common and convenient for citizens to exercise their right of supervising the government. It’s always hard to publish articles in traditional media and it’s much easier to do so on the Internet,” said Zhou Ze, a law professor at China Youth University for Political Science who has spoken out about detentions related to online comments. Those arrested or detained for trying to help Lin are just the latest to be punished for their activism. Wang Shuai was detained in Shanghai after speaking out online about land confiscation in his hometown in central China’s Henan province. Wu Baoquan was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in jail for criticizing – also online – a land compensation plan in his Inner Mongolian village. But there have been a few victories, too. Authorities dropped charges against a man in the eastern province of Shandong who was detained after accusing his local Communist Party secretary of corruption. An unpopular garbage incinerator project in the southern city of Guangzhou has been put on hold. A karaoke bar waitress went unpunished after fatally stabbing a drunk government official who cornered her and demanded sex. Each case got strong attention from Chinese citizens online as details spread through blogs and forums. Guo Baofeng, who works as a translator in the southern city of Xiamen, was among those taken away by police after posting a video interview of Lin on an overseas Web site. He became famous among Chinese netizens for sending Twitter updates while in police custody. “Pls help me, I grasp the phone during police sleep,” and “i have been arrested by Mawei police, SOS,” he tweeted in English from his cell phone, avoiding Chinese characters that take longer to input. Guo was released from detention after about three weeks, though he is still under police monitoring. Lin, the mother, does not have a deep understanding of the Internet or its workings, but knows that it is helping to keep her daughter’s case in the public eye. Poor and uneducated, she can do little other than try to support those who helped spread the word of her plight by attending their court hearings. “The authorities take advantage of us because I’m illiterate and have no money or family connections,” she said. “Thankfully there are reporters and citizens helping me. They’ve helped so much and I hope they can keep helping us.” — Video of Lin Xiuying talking about her daughter’s death (in Chinese): http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2009/06/200906261220.shtml — Associated Press researcher Xi Yue contributed to this report.
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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LONDON (AP) — Could Nintendo’s Mario be swapping power blocks for the chalkboard? The man behind the massively popular videogame franchise and the best-selling Wii console says he’s devoting most of his energy to turning Nintendo Co.’s DS handheld consoles into tour guides and educational aids. Japanese video game guru Shigeru Miyamoto says the console is already being used in museums, galleries, and aquariums in Japan and that he’s working on introducing the console to junior high schools in the country. In an interview with The Associated Press, Miyamoto framed the project as part of his company’s effort to broaden the audience for gaming consoles. The designer was in London to accept an honor Friday at the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards.
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The pay package last year for EMC Corp. CEO Joe Tucci was 23 percent lower than in 2008, a reflection of lower equity awards and cuts to the data-storage company’s executive salaries. The company’s proxy filing late Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that EMC valued Tucci’s 2009 pay package at $9.0 million, compared with $11.7 million in 2008, according to calculations by The Associated Press. The bulk of the pay package came from restricted stock and stock options, which totaled nearly $7 million, compared with just over $9 million last year. About half of the restricted stock and options awarded to Tucci last year are performance-based and are doled out depending on how well EMC’s finances fare. EMC noted in its filing that Tucci’s bonus was hurt by the fact EMC’s $14 billion in revenue in 2009 fell short of the company’s target by $1 billion. The company exceeded internal expectations in other parts, however, topping the earnings per share and free cash flow goals. EMC is the world’s leading maker of data-storage machines, owning nearly a quarter of the worldwide market at the end of last year for disk storage equipment that’s sold separately from the computer servers they connect to, according to market research firm IDC. The company cut costs as the recession hurt sales. EMC has shed about 2,400 jobs in a restructuring designed to cut $500 million in costs this year. The company, which is based in Hopkinton, Mass., has about 43,000 workers. The filing showed that Tucci got: – A salary of $872,308, which reflected two temporary cuts to EMC executives’ salaries in 2009. He had a salary of $1 million in 2008. – A performance-based cash bonus of $1.1 million, which was down from $1.4 million in 2008. – “Other compensation” of $149,150, which consisted mostly of Tucci’s personal travel on EMC-owned aircraft The filing also showed that Tucci exercised options valued at $7.4 million and had $13.7 million worth of stock vest during the year. The Associated Press formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year. The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, making the AP total different in most cases than the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC set its annual meeting of shareholders for April 29.
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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NEW YORK (AP) — Palm Inc. reported sales figures Thursday that showed it’s having a difficult time getting consumers to pay attention to its phones in a market dominated by iPhones and BlackBerrys. The company’s shares plunged in after-hours trading. The company shipped 960,000 smart phones to stores and distributors in the quarter that ended Feb. 26, 23 percent more than in the previous quarter. However, the number of phones that were actually bought by consumers was 408,000, down 29 percent from the previous quarter. By comparison, Apple sold 8.7 million iPhones in its most recent quarter. “Our recent under performance has been very disappointing, but the potential for Palm remains strong,” Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said in a statement. Palm reported a loss of $22 million, or 13 cents per share, for the quarter, its fiscal third. But that was mitigated by an accounting effect brought about by the recent drop in Palm’s stock price. Excluding that effect, the loss was $102.8 million, or 61 cents per share. In the same period a year ago Palm lost $98 million, or 89 cents per share. Revenue was $350 million, up from $91 million a year ago, when Palm was waiting to release its newest phones. The latest revenue figure was above Palm’s own forecast, issued less than a month ago, for $285 million to $310 million. Chief Financial Officer Doug Jeffries said that Palm was able to deliver several shipments early, just before the end of the quarter. Palm recognizes most of its revenue when phones hit distributors, not when the devices are sold to consumers. Jeffries said Palm now expects sales in the current quarter to be less than $150 million, partly because carriers now have big stocks of phones to sell off. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were on average expecting sales of $305 million in the current quarter. Palm shares closed Thursday at $5.65, up 28 cents. After Jeffries revealed the revenue forecast in a conference call, the shares fell 74 cents, or 13 percent, to $4.91 in after-hours trading. If the shares stay at that level in Friday trading, they will set a new 52-week low. The shares have traded as high as $18.09 in the past year. Palm was a pioneer in the smart phone business, but it lagged as BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. gobbled up the corporate market and Apple Inc.’s iPhone charmed consumers. More recently, Google Inc.’s Android software for smart phones has gained traction at Palm’s expense. Palm revamped its portfolio last year by introducing a new phone operating system, webOS. It’s the basis for a new line of phones, led by the Pre, that have won critical praise but haven’t turned the company’s fortunes around. Analysts have suggested that Palm, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is now too small of a player in the phone market and could be acquired. Potential buyers might eye its software and patents. But they also could be dissuaded by the time it would take to get webOS running on their phones. Rubinstein said Palm is trying to boost sales by reaching consumers where many of them decide what phone to buy: in the store. The company is sending representatives to stores to educate salespeople so they can more confidently recommend and explain Palm’s phones, he said. Early results from that program are encouraging, he said. The company is also stepping up its advertising efforts, with a new TV spot during the first two weeks of the NCAA basketball tournament. Like some previous Palm ads, it’s focused on explaining a useful but somewhat arcane feature of webOS: its ability to run several applications at the same time, something the iPhone can’t do.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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NEW YORK (AP) — The suitors for Sex.com have been put off for now. An auction for the much-sought-after domain name was canceled Wednesday after three creditors filed a petition forcing the owner into bankruptcy. Mike Mann, an investor with all three creditors, said the petition was filed to stop the auction. According to the petition, the creditors have a combined $10.1 million claim. Selling the domain name at an auction was not going to enhance its value, Mann said. “It’s gone way up in value,” he said. “It’s the most valuable domain in the world. They were throwing away the world’s most valuable domain asset.” Escom LLC paid a reported $12 million to $14 million for the domain name in 2006, but the company was unable to repay the debt. The lender ordered the foreclosure sale. The opening bid: $1 million. Richard Maltz, vice president of David R. Maltz & Co. Inc., which was handling the auction, said there was “considerable interest” in the domain name sale. Maltz declined to give specifics on the interested parties. One of them was People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which sent a letter to the lender’s lawyer asking him to urge his client to donate the domain name to them. Males who consume meat, eggs and dairy products often suffer sexual side effects, according to PETA. “Donating the domain to us is a win-win situation for everybody: Your client will enjoy an enormous tax write-off, and people will learn how to help spice up their love lives while helping animals,” wrote Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. Like Mann, domain name experts believed Sex.com was going to be undervalued at the auction. Jerry Nolte, owner of Domainer’s Magazine, said that the site is worth between $14 million and $18 million, but that “the domain market has gone down significantly from what it was two years ago,” though he said it is starting to rebound. Kathy Nielsen, director of sales for domain marketplace Sedo, estimated it would go for $6 million. She said there wasn’t enough notice for interested parties to do due diligence. “It’s a great name to build a business on,” she said, adding that sex is one of the top search terms on the Internet. Mann said Escom was never given a chance to make its money back. The Sex.com site front page features links to things like “love horoscopes,” “story of the day,” “youtube video of the day” and “classifieds.” He wants Escom to be able to build the asset, though he acknowledged the domain name will probably be sold.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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NEW YORK (AP) — A regional TV network will broadcast next week’s Islanders-Rangers game in 3-D, joining a worldwide trend that affects few viewers now but could eventually change the way people watch sports. Wednesday’s hockey game on MSG is the first 3-D sports event on TV in the U.S. But hardly any viewers now have the 3-D capable sets that would allow them to see it. Networks believe 3-D could be the next big thing, and many are rushing to offer programming. The Masters announced this week that next month’s tournament will be available to Comcast subscribers with proper sets. The NHL game will be available to Cablevision subscribers with 3-D-compatible TVs who get MSG HD. The network is in discussions with other cable providers.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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DETROIT (AP) — Jerome York, a board member at Apple Inc., and a financial wizard who is credited with turning around Chrysler and IBM, died Thursday at the age of 71. York, who lived in suburban Detroit, was taken to POH Regional Medical Center in Pontiac, Mich., on Tuesday night. The Wall Street Journal reported he suffered from a brain aneurysm. Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement that York was a pillar of financial and business expertise and insight on the board for more than a dozen years. York worked for all three Detroit automakers starting in the 1960s. He helped Chrysler survive its first government bailout in 1980 and later rose to chief financial officer and helped oversee cost cuts and a return to profitability. He made similar moves as IBM Corp.’s chief financial officer in the 1990s. He also advised investor Kirk Kerkorian in a later takeover attempt of Chrysler and in efforts to reform General Motors. York joined Apple’s board in 1997 when most people doubted the company’s future, Jobs’ statement said. “It’s been a privilege to know and work with Jerry, and I’m going to miss him a lot,” he said. As Chrysler’s CFO, York helped restore the No. 3 U.S. automaker to profitability with cuts and asset sales and was considered a potential successor to then-chairman Lee Iacocca. He left Chrysler to become IBM Corp.’s CFO in 1993. An IBM senior manager described him as “the pit bull who came to sell everything and not approve anything,” according to a Harvard Business School case study about IBM’s turnaround. York left IBM in 1995 to become vice chairman of Tracinda Corp., billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s investment company. Kerkorian teamed up with Iacocca and made an offer to buy Chrysler that same year. Kerkorian retreated the following year after winning a board seat at the company. After Kerkorian bought up GM shares in 2006, York was named to the automaker’s board. York supported an alliance with Nissan Motor Co. and Renault SA as well as ditching some GM brands. He resigned shortly after GM ended talks with Renault and Nissan. “I have grave reservations concerning the ability of the company’s current business model to successfully compete in the marketplace with those of the Asian producers,” York wrote in his resignation letter. Three years later, GM entered bankruptcy protection and shed four of its eight brands. York also is chief executive officer of Harwinton Capital LLC, a private investment company he controls. He was born in Memphis in 1938 and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. He earned a master of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master of business administration degree from the University of Michigan. — AP Technology Writer Jessica Mintz in Seattle contributed to this report.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) — Hewlett Packard Co. said Thursday that it has reached a settlement with three companies that have been accused of infringing on the printer company’s patents for ink cartridges. HP filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in September, seeking to ban imports of ink cartridges by 11 companies. Two of those companies – InkPlusToner.com of Canoga Park, Calif., and Comptree Inc. of City of Industry, Calif., have agreed to stop the imports and paid HP an undisclosed sum. HP expects to reach a similar agreement with Smartone Services LLC of Hayward, Calif. Zhuhai Gree Magneto-Electric Co. of China has asked an administrative law judge to end the commission’s investigation after agreeing to cease importing these ink cartridges. A default judgment was entered against the remaining seven companies: Mipo International Ltd. of Hong Kong, Mextec Group Inc. of Miami, Fla., and five Chinese companies, Shanghai Angel Printer Supplies Co. Ltd., Shenzhen Print Media Co. Ltd., Zhuhai National Resources & Jingjie Imaging Products Co. Ltd., Tatrix International and Ourway Image Co. Ltd. HP said it expects the commission to rule in favor of banning the importation of these goods from the companies. HP’s ink business has long been a cash cow, only recently being supplanted as HP’s most profitable business by its services division. HP’s printer and ink division had 2 1/2 times the operating profit as the personal computer division in the last fiscal year, even though the PC group’s revenue was higher. Shares of HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., rose 41 cents to $52.64 in midday trading.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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BRUSSELS (AP) — Norway’s Opera said Thursday that downloads of its browser more than doubled after Microsoft Corp. was forced to give European users a choice of Web software to settle European Union antitrust charges. Microsoft started sending updates to Windows computers in Europe in early March that launches a pop-up screen telling them to pick one or more of 12 free Web browsers to download and install, including Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. Opera Software ASA said European downloads of its newest desktop browser increased 130 percent between March 12-14, after the updates were sent out. It saw the highest increase in Poland, where downloads went up 328 percent. The company’s chief technology officer Hakon Wium Lie said this confirms that users will try alternative software when given a choice. Some 100 million Europeans using Microsoft software will be asked to choose between rival browsers by mid-May in a concession the company made to EU regulators in return for them dropping an antitrust case. The EU executive said the move would foster competition. Opera triggered the EU case by complaining that attaching Internet Explorer to Windows was an unfair way for Microsoft to put its Web software on most of the world’s computers. The top five browsers – Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Mozilla’s Firefox, Google Inc.’s Chrome, Apple Inc.’s Safari and Opera, are now given prominent placement on the pop-up choice screen. The selections will rotate from computer to computer, so none of the these five browsers will always be first. Far smaller competitors such as Avant Browser, Flock, Green Browser, K-Meleon, Maxthon, Sleipnir and Slim Browser also will be displayed if the user scrolls sideways.
March 18, 2010 | Posted in
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