Business

Continuing the consolidation trend that has swept the video game software development industry over the past few years, Activision announced Wednesday that it has acquired Bizarre Creations, the independent UK-based game developer behind such titles as "Project Gotham Racing" and "Geometry Wars." Th...

A jury Tuesday delivered the second punch of a potentially staggering one-two legal blow to Vonage, finding the VoIP provider had willfully infringed upon patents held by Sprint Nextel. Jurors awarded Sprint $69.5 million in damages -- the equivalent of an estimated 5 percent of its revenues during ...

Among all of the great business concepts of the last few decades, the franchise model is among those consistently at the very top. Over the next decade, the introduction of hundreds of fresh, locally nurtured franchise concepts emerging in the Mideast will set the stage for a revolution of nouveau c...

After years of speculation and preparation, Amazon.com launched its digital music store Tuesday, debuting Amazon MP3 and promising a wide selection of music unfettered by DRM restrictions. The e-tail giant launched what it's calling a public beta of the download store with 2 million songs available ...

Having agreed to buy Slingbox maker Sling Media, Dish Network parent company EchoStar Communications now is considering splitting itself into two distinct companies. The Colorado-based satellite TV company wants to separate its consumer-based and wholesale businesses, a move it says will allow both ...

Social networking firm Facebook may sell a partial ownership stake to Microsoft as it moves to beef up its value and move toward a possible IPO, according to reports. After being linked to Yahoo in persistent acquisition rumors -- Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly turned down an offer of c...

Google has formally asked the European Commission to review its acquisition of interactive advertising firm DoubleClick. The next few weeks will be critical, as regulators and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic contemplate how -- or whether -- the merger should move forward. The EC on Monday i...

Dell plans to start selling its personal computers through China's sprawling Gome electronics chain as it continues to embrace retail as a key part of its turnaround plan. Hoping to tap into a customer base it doesn't reach through direct sales, Dell said it would start making its PCs available in 5...

Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, and Steve Perlman, who developed Apple's QuickTime video technology and WebTV, were among the people who descended upon Capitol Hill to protest the Patent Reform Act passed by the House of Representatives at the beginning of September. Kamen and Perlman are perhap...

Once again, technology entrepreneurs played a prominent role in the Forbes 400, the annual list of the wealthiest Americans, with Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin breaking the top 10 for the first time, though the arrival of several hedge fund billionaires helped dilute the impact of tec...

Forcing consumers to buy prepackaged tiers of bundled TV channels is a violation of trade and anti-trust laws, contends a lawsuit filed in the federal court against media companies and cable/satellite TV providers. The complaint, filed by Los Angeles lawyers Maxwell Blecher and David Kesselman on be...

Oracle's first-quarter software sales soared some 35 percent -- the largest year-over-year gain since the dot-com boom -- helping propel it past forecasts and prompting executives to declare that the company is gaining on rivals such as IBM and SAP. Oracle said it earned $840 million, or 16 cents pe...

President Bush wants to renew and expand the controversial temporary surveillance legislation he rushed into law last month. The law, also known as the "Protect America Act," updates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by permitting warrantless surveillance of any targets located abroad, even ...

NBC became the latest television network to plant a stake in its own piece of Internet video turf, saying it would make free downloads of first-run television shows available directly to viewers through its Web site. Known as NBC Direct, the offering has implications affecting various players in the...

Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, Time Warner has no plans to sell AOL, Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons said Tuesday. "We are focused right now on building the best third-party ad platform we can within AOL and at the same time increasing our own inventory," Parsons told analysts at a Gold...