Posts related to ‘Law’

Google (GOOG) Settles With Authors, Publishers

hersheyGoogle (NASDAQ:GOOG), book authors and publishers had until midnight to provide a federal court with a plan to settle their differences on how the search engine digitizes and charges for books. The group waited until the last minute to get its proposed settlement to the courthouse. The new agreement may address government concerns about Google’s earlier settlement that gave it a virtual monopoly in the online digital book market.

Read more…

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 3:19 am in Law,

Apple: Court Rules Psystar Cannot Sell Mac Knock-Offs

appleIn a court case that began last year, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) charged the young upstart Psystar, which makes Mac knock-offs, with a host of copyright and trademark violations. The venerable computer and consumer electronics company said that Psystar had infringed its copyrights by selling PCs that looked like Macs and ran slightly modified versions of its Mac OS X.

Read more….

Posted on: November 16, 2009 – 3:15 am in Law,

52-Week High Club (COMS, AMD, PLA, BID)

3Com Corp (NASDAQ: COMS) rose over 30% to a yearly high of $7.52 after Hewlett-Packard, the PC maker, announced plans to buy 3Com for $2.7 billion.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD) rose over 20% to a yearly high of $6.73 after the announcement that the company would receive $1.25 billion from Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC) under an agreement that ends a legal dispute between the two companies over patents and antitrust accusations.  

Playboy Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: PLA) rose over 60% to a yearly high of $4.75 because the magazine is in talks to sell itself to Iconix Brand Group (NASDAQ: ICON).

Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID) rose as high as 11% to a yearly high of $19.50 after the action house raised $117 million at a sale yesterday.  

Garrett W. McIntyre

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 4:31 pm in Earnings, Law, Mergers and Buy Outs, , , , , ,

Intel (INTC) Bribes AMD (AMD) To Settle Antitrust Issues

nokAMD (NYSE:AMD) has had a pretty strong antitrust claim against Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). Intel allegedly gave money to PC companies to use its chips and bullied customers using it huge market share. AMD’s profits disappeared and the company nearly went out of business.

AMD’s claims have been partially justified by antitrust investigations and actions by the EU, US regulators, and the New York State Attorney General’s office. Intel faces punishments and probably large fines for its behavior, if authorities can make their cases. The EU already has fined the world’s largest chip company and Intel is appealing the judgement. Read More »

Posted on: November 12, 2009 – 9:11 am in Law, ,

Burglary Business Damaged By The Economy

OMGBurglaries are falling sharply, very sharply since 1973. The number of victims per thousand households has dropped from just over 100 thirty-five years ago to under 40 last year, according to the Bureau of Justice.  It appears the cause is, at least in part, the recession.

So far, 2009 has shown an even larger improvement than last year did. Burglary rates are down by as much as a third in some cities. Read More »

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 5:40 am in Law

A Split With Google (GOOG) Would Hurt News Corp (NWS) And WSJ Badly

bearRupert Murdoch, head of News Corp (NYSE:NWS), has made it clear that he is done with the BBC and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) stealing his content and using it to make money. He may sue both companies under the “fair use” laws to keep them from using material from his huge media empire.

Murdoch should be careful what he wishes for. According to a study from Experian Hitwise, “on a weekly basis Google and Google news are the top traffic providers for WSJ.com account for over 25% of WSJ.com’s traffic.” And, “over 44% of WSJ.com visitors coming from Google are “new” users who haven’t visited the domain in the last 30 days.”

Murdoch may have his way and badly damage his WSJ.com business in the process.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Posted on: November 10, 2009 – 4:54 am in Internet, Law, ,

Intel’s (INTC) Worst Day: Why Didn’t IBM Rat On Mr. Chips?

nokThere may have been a time when Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) wanted to be the next Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), at least in terms of earnings, market cap, and share of market. It has, in essence, followed in Redmond’s footsteps, at least with antitrust authorities.

Intel is becoming more embroiled by the month in charges that it used threats and kickbacks to keep PC and servers companies from doing business with its smaller competitor AMD (NYSE:AMD). AMD is close to ruin, though it is a matter of opinion whether its current state was caused by former CEO Hector Ruiz or Intel’s clandestine actions.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed antitrust charges against Intel Corp., alleging the company threatened computer makers and paid huge kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, according to The Wall Street Journal. Among the companies that Intel may have threatened are IBM (NYSE:IBM), Dell (NASDAQ:DELL), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ). Read More »

Posted on: November 4, 2009 – 12:33 pm in Hardware, Law, PC Companies, , , , ,

More E.U. Roadblocks in Sun-Oracle Deal (ORCL, JAVA)

Burning Money PicThere are reports from the Financial Times that were also just noted on CNBC that are almost baffling.  It seems that the European Commission may issue a formal objection to the Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) buyout of Sun Microsystems Inc. (NASDAQ: JAVA).  The reasoning is that Oracle has apparently refused to offer any concessions to European regulators.

While a formal set of objections would not constitute a formal merger blockage, that is the first real step to a formal block.  This is also not set in stone yet and does not mean that either Oracle nor the E.U. will offer concessions.
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Posted on: November 3, 2009 – 4:44 pm in Law, Mergers and Buy Outs, Regulation, Software, Technology Companies, ,

Delaware Named As Better Place To Hide Money Than Switzerland

bankAll of the tax evasion cases brought against customers at Swiss banks would lead most analysts to believe that it is the world capital of hiding money. Numbered Swiss bank accounts are a legend based on the readiness of the financial system in Switzerland to keep the identities of its clients secret.

It turns out the Switzerland is not the best place to keep financial information and transactions under wraps; Delaware is. Read More »

Posted on: November 2, 2009 – 6:22 am in Law

The New York Times’ Coming Jihad Against The Huffington Post

newspaperThe old media is running out of time. The online editions of The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO), New York Times (NYSE:NYT), and Time, Inc (NYSE:TWX) properties do well, but not well enough to off-set losses at their print properties. Read More »

Posted on: October 30, 2009 – 5:22 am in Law, Media, , , , ,

What If Galleon Had Gotten Its Tips For Free?

bearMore thrilling news about the Galleon insider trading case come out every day.

The latest is that several media outlets are reporting that the hedge fund paid out $250 million to its banks last year. It is not clear how much of that money may have been in exchange for information, but it is broadly assumed that some of its was.

The FT reports that investment banks may not have given Galleon information that cause charges of insider trading violations. These tips were in the grey area between sharing data a number of traders know and data that very few have access to. The paper writes that on broker reported “They wanted anything the public did not have. They got various pieces and put them together and that was their edge.” Read More »

Posted on: October 29, 2009 – 6:15 am in Law

Yahoo! and Microsoft Extend Negotiation Period (YHOO, MSFT)

Yahoo LogoYahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) issued an SEC filing noting that it and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) have extended the negotiating time on the previously announced search pact.  Without getting to participate in the drawing room for the negotiations it is impossible to know if there were real snags other than the usual gossip that comes and goes or if it is simply nothing more than just needing more time to complete the documents.  Here is a broken down excerpt from the Yahoo! SEC Filing:

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Posted on: October 28, 2009 – 5:57 pm in Internet, Law, Mergers and Buy Outs, SEC, Software, Technology Companies, ,

The Fannie-Freddie Equity Conundrum (FNM, FRE)

burning-house-image4It is no secret that things could be much better at Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE).  But the last week or so has re-highlighted just how dire the situation is for these government sponsored entities and perhaps more importantly for the common shareholders. Both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were forced into federal conservatorship last year by Uncle Sam.

We have taken an in-depth look here at the situation and the past to get a feel for the future of these companies (GSE’s).  If you parse through the data and watch what has been happening in Washington D.C. of late, there is the clear reminder that these emperors have no clothes on.  In the world of Star Trek, these companies stockholders may be facing a Kobayashi Maru scenario.
Read More »

Posted on: October 25, 2009 – 7:45 am in Accounting, Bankruptcy, Bonds, Compensation, Corporate Governance, Cult Stock, Editor's Picks, Financial Stocks, Housing, Law, Politics, Regulation, Turnarounds, ,

Nokia (NOK) Patent Dispute Could Cost Apple (AAPL) $1 Billion

appleAnalysts are beginning to calculate what a lose in a patent lawsuit brought by Nokia (NYSE:NOK) could cost Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster believes that the figure could be as much as $2 per iPhone. That would put Apple’s liability at $200 million for the handsets it has sold so far.

Munster’s figure is at the lower end of estimates. Nokia claims that ten of its patents have been violated. Read More »

Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 1:55 pm in Law, ,

Book Sellers Ask Justice Department To Review Amazon (AMZN) And Wal-Mart (WMT) Pricing

magazinThe American Booksellers Association wants to know the motivation of Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for selling popular books online for under $10. The industry group has asked The Justice Department to investigate what it believes “constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and is harmful to consumers.” The association sent a letter to the Antitrust Division of the department detailing its grievances.

At the core of the dispute between publishers and the large online retailers is that major titles are being sold below the cost that Amazon and its rivals have to pay to book companies. The American Booksellers Association says that this is the equivalent of a conspiracy “to win control of the market for hardcover bestsellers.” Read More »

Posted on: October 23, 2009 – 5:14 am in Internet, Law, Retail, , ,

Apple (AAPL) Meets The Nokia (NOK) Litigation Machine

appleNokia (NYSE:NOK) sued Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)  saying  that Apple’s iPhone infringes Nokia patents for GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) standards.

Nokia has a habit of trying to get its way in court as Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) found out two years ago. After a prolonged royalty fight, Nokia sued the chip design firm and accused it of illegally copying six of its patents for mobile downloading of software applications and for mobile television broadcasts. The dispute between the firms ended with Nokia paying Qualcomm for intellectual property, turning the Finnish company’s legal tactic on its head.

Nokia sued two Chinese companies for copying the design of several of its handsets in 2006. Nokia has also been involved recently in patent litigation, which it won,  against InterDigital. Read More »

Posted on: October 22, 2009 – 1:26 pm in Law, , , ,

Note About Hertz (HTZ) Financial Statements

airplaneThere is an interesting note in the Hertz (NYSE:HTZ) lawsuit against research firm Audit Intergrity. Hertz claim that AI distributed false and defamatory statements about the rental car company when it put out its list of the probability of bankruptcy at a number of large US companies.

In the complaint, Hertz says “Defendant never had access to Hertz’s underlying financial data from which they could reasonably test the accuracy of Hertz’s financial reports”. It seems odd that such important data was not given to the SEC and shareholders in the form of 10-Qs, 10-Ks, and other public filings. If the data is so important, those who hold stock in Hertz should have it. The accuracy of Hertz financial reports is important Read More »

Posted on: October 15, 2009 – 9:51 am in Law,

Cuban’s Demand For Legal Fees May Have Spurred SEC Appeal

bankLast week the SEC announced that it intended to appeal the dismissal of insider trading charges against Mark Cuban. Cuban is accused of having sold his stake in Mamma.com after the company’s chief executive officer informed him that the company planned to issue additional shares in the company.  This move reportedly saved Cuban around $750,000. 

 In order to gain some insight on the SEC’s motivation for pursuing the Cuban case further, 24/7 Wall St. conducted an interview with Peter J. Anderson, a member of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan’s litigating practice.  Anderson has extensive experience representing clients against SEC charges.  This includes the representation of one of the four Arthur Anderson partners involved in the Enron case.  In this interview Anderson argues that the SEC “should have been happy to take the judge’s decision and just move on to their next case”, but that Cuban’s suit for reimbursement of legal fees renewed the wrath of the regulator.  Read More »

Posted on: October 13, 2009 – 9:52 am in Interview, Law, Regulation, Uncategorized, , ,

A Solar Win in California, Sort Of (STP, FSLR, SPWRA, PCG, EIX, SRE)

Solar Roof ImageThe solar sector appears to be lightly benefiting from California legislation efforts that would secure above market rates as a feed-in tariff for small solar power generators.  California already has mandates calling for larger utilities to generate more power from alternative energy sources (as much as one-third by 2020).  The state already offers relatively high utility rates and solar subsidies and this will take what already one of the top solar markets to somewhat of a German model.

There is a larger effort at the California Public Utilities Commission, or CPUC, that may benefit larger players like Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR), and SunPower Corp. (NASDAQ: SPWRA).  The discrepancy comes in over which companies will or will not benefit from the move if a smaller benefit comes into play or if it is the larger benefit.
Read More »

Posted on: October 12, 2009 – 9:56 am in Alternative Energy, Law, , , , , ,

The New Lehman Trade: Selling the Bankruptcy Claims (BAC, MS, CS)

Broken Money Merger ImageThere have been many ways which companies exit bankruptcy court.  Historically, many companies have used tax loss carryforward strategies as well.  But selling a claim against assets for recovery in bankruptcy is a strategy that is less well known by the public.  If the Bloomberg reports are correct, then Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) may be selling claims against the Lehman bankruptcy.  Based on what we saw last month, this would be at least the third firm to be selling Lehman claims.

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Posted on: October 8, 2009 – 4:16 pm in Banking, Brokerage Firms, Financial Stocks, Law, , ,