Business

Netflix on Tuesday filed a patent infringement suit against Blockbuster alleging the bricks-and-mortar movie rental chain illegally copied its ideas. Netflix is seeking a court order that would force Blockbuster to change its online rental processes and pay patent royalties. The complaint was filed ...

Computer Sciences Corp. may find it a challenge to nail both the right buyer and the right price if it ends up on the block. The company has announced it is exploring various alternatives including an outright sale. On Tuesday, CSC said its board of directors "decided to explore strategic alternati...

Taking the convergence of cable and telecommunications to a new level, British cable provider NTL will buy Virgin Mobile, a move that will enable it to roll out a four-pack of services under a single brand. The stock-and-cash deal was valued at about US$1.67 billion, making it relatively small in co...

Time Warner said it officially changed the name for its Internet service and portal, saying America Online will now be known by its longtime nickname, AOL. The America Online moniker is being retired after some 15 years, during which time it became synonymous with Internet access for millions of ...

Verizon Communications plans to sell off its Caribbean and Latin American telecommunications operations in three separate transactions that will net it some US$3.7 billion in cash, the company announced Monday. It will use the funds to strengthen its balance sheet and and to prepare itself for battl...

Alcatel and Lucent announced Sunday they plan to merge in a US$13.4 billion deal that will create one of the largest telecom and Internet gear makers in the world -- and one that may face tough scrutiny from regulators. Exactly a week after acknowledging that they were talking about a possible deal,...

As the recent BlackBerry case focused the world's eyes on the arcane field of patents, I was reminded of the 1999 Amazon.com "one click" case, which caused so many to condemn the U.S. patent system. At that time, critics called the system "broken" and a "disincentive to innovation." Now, the system ...

Lawyers for Apple Computer argued to a United Kingdom court that the iTunes Music Store is a data-transfer service, not a purely musical endeavor and as a result does not violate a long-standing agreement with the company that handles The Beatles business affairs. The argument was made during procee...

Have you been to Europe lately? If so, when you've crossed borders you've noticed that you no longer have to go through passport control and get your passport examined, then stamped. You can travel throughout the European Union just as you can travel throughout the United States, unimpeded by border...

The U.S. Supreme Court is now hearing arguments in eBay v. MercExchange. It is not examining the underlying dispute between the two firms -- indeed, MercExchange has successfully challenged eBay's use of its buy now technology. Rather, the court is examining whether issuing an injunction against the...

Google said it would release another 5.3 million shares of its stock for public sale, claiming it wanted to be ready to meet higher demand for its shares as it enters the Standard & Poor's 500 index and in the process raise additional cash for "general corporate purposes." The move, which will r...

A case that could dramatically alter the way keyword search advertising is sold has closely moved toward a court date, with Google's practice of letting anyone bid on certain keywords -- and whether the practice may constitute trademark infringement -- at issue. The case of Edina Realty, Inc. vs. Th...

The TiVo v. EchoStar Communications patent trial officially began on Wednesday. Now it's up to a Texas jury to decide whether the satellite TV giant stole TiVo's technology that allows viewers to skip commercials. In a case that could have stock market and cable television industry repercussions, Ti...

European Union regulators said they have warned Microsoft that Vista, the first new version of Windows in six years due out later this year, could face scrutiny on anti-trust grounds if third-party products cannot be made to work with the new platform. There is no formal investigation yet under way ...

The lengthy patent battle between e-commerce giant eBay and a small firm that says it came up with the popular "Buy it Now" technology first will get a hearing before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. The focus of the hearing will be whether MercExchange should be granted an injunction barring eBay ...