Marketplace

Pennies on the meter

Students at Colorado State University were getting a deal, or rather, a steal on campus parking. Some... we'll call them "enterprising" student motorists figured out that a glitch in old campus parking meters confused certain pennies for quarters, so they were cashing in on 30 minutes of parking for only one cent — hard to resist if you're a broke college kid. But campus police caught on after lots of copper starting showing up in the meters. The manufacturer is now replacing them.

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Ex-HealthSouth CEO going to prison

The founder of what used to be the country's largest healthcare provider is going to the big house. CEO-turned-preacher Richard Scrushy was sentenced yesterday to six years and 10 months in prison on bribery charges. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, got a seven-year sentence. The pair were convicted of taking part in a scheme that gave hospital contracts to Scrushy's company, HealthSouth. Scrushy has already paid $81 million to settle SEC charges he directed his company to overstate revenues by at least $2.6 billion between 1996 and 2002.

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Not a g'day for Google Australia

Google's not making a very good impression Down Under. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking the search engine to court, claiming Google uses deceptive practices when it comes to the use of its paid advertising links.

At the heart of the dispute is how Google displays search results, specifically where advertisers are sometimes listed in results and not identified as sponsors. Sponsored links have pushed Google's stock market value to $169 billion. Google says the claims are bogus.

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That's a whole lotta laundry money

This week, 32,000 quarters fell out of an armored car near Madison, Wisconsin because the door wasn't closed right. Apparently the sound of all those coins hitting the pavement didn't get the driver's attention. He was cited for failure to prevent a leaking load. Meanwhile, only half of the coins have been returned, about $4,000 worth, so if somebody walks into a Wisconsin bank with a bag full of quarters...

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Case of stolen MP3s

Or not as it turns out. A U.S. district judge reversed a $1.5 billion verdict against Microsoft in a patent dispute over MP3 technology. Believe it or not, before every other person had an iPod (or one of those other MP3 players) the music format did not exist. Alcatel co-owns the copyright to the MP3 encoding and claims that Microsoft started using it without paying. Microsoft says it did pay up — not to Alcatel, but to a German research organization which co-owns the patent.

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B-P in the hot seat

Officials in Alaska have some burning questions for B-P. The energy giant has had four fires in just over a month at its North Slope oil production facilities, and authorities want an explanation. Last year, more than 200,000 gallons of oil leaked at the Prudhoe Bay field due to corrosion. B-P eventually had to shut down part of the nation's largest oil field after a second leak surfaced five months later. A B-P spokesman says the recent fires are separate events and not part of a pattern.

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Freddie Mac settles the court

Freddie Mac will shell out $50 million to settle federal charges. An accounting scandal erupted at the government-sponsored mortgage finance company in 2003. That's when it was disclosed Freddie had misstated earnings by some $5 billion for the years 2000-to-2002 to smooth over some volatility and meet Wall Street expectations. The company's top brass was ousted when that happened but Freddie Mac still neither admits or denies wrongdoing. It does, however, agree to refrain from future violations of securities laws.

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I won it for . . . um . . . eBay science

Winning a Pulitzer prize is a rare and precious thing. So why could you buy one on eBay last week? New York's NewsDay would like to know. NewsDay was tipped off that three of their Pulitzer medals sold at auction for $15,000. Impossible, the newspaper said -- those medals are locked in a safe. But when the safe was opened -- indeed, the Pulitzers were missing. The FBI is investigating.

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Old-school piracy is making a comeback

Piracy is up 14 percent this year. And this time, I don't mean DVDs or counterfeit purses. I don't think they wear eye patches anymore, but piracy is booming off the coast of Africa and the waters of Indonesia. Somalia has been a particular hot-spot this year. Political instability there has led to a big increase -- 37 attacks this year.

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As if traveling wasn't expensive enough

The new U.S. passport laws have been a headache for many Americans hoping to travel to Mexico or Canada. Now, a congressional inquiry reveals all those shiny new passports may have been sprinkled with a little price gouging. Americans may have been overcharged by as much as $100 million a year. Each passport may have cost $14 more than it costs to produce. And now a couple of senators are calling for the government to account for those charges.

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Don't mistake it for the real Vuitton

Britney a counterfeiter? Not quite her, but someone did counterfeit at Sony BMG. Luxury goods maker Louis Vuitton has won a lawsuit that accused a Britney Spears music video of violating counterfeiting laws. The video showcases a pink Vuitton "Cherry Blossoms" design on the dashboard of a pink Hummer (we're guessing it wasn't the authentic "Cherry Blossoms" Louis Vuitton dashboard). Both Sony BMG and MTV online have to pay a fine of $117,000. They could have bought a couple of Vuitton bags with that money...

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Red Hot Chili Lawsuit

There's a new series on Showtime called "Californication." But that's also the name of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song and 1999 album.The Chili Peppers don't think that's cool. Yesterday, the band sued Showtime for using the name Californication. The show also features a character named "Dani California." That happens to be the title of a Chili Peppers song that came out last year.

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Nothing soothes angry drivers like . . . coupons

Almost a million people that drive Explorers sued Ford after the big tire recall in 2000. The lawsuits claimed the SUV lost resale value because of perceived danger. Nothing a $500 coupon can't help!
That's how Ford is settling the class-action suit. The company will offer customers 500 bucks toward a new Explorer, or $300 toward other Ford vehicles. The agreement could cost the automaker as much as $500 million if everyone eligible takes a voucher.

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Can Jackie Chan's magnetism stop piracy?

Here's the latest message from movie makers to the people of China: If you buy legal DVD's instead of pirated ones, we'll give you a refrigerator magnet. The Motion Picture Association plans to distribute hundreds of thousands of magnets bearing a message from actor Jackie Chan.
It says, "Thank you for Purchasing Legitimate DVD's. Your action determines the future of the film industry." Chan says he hopes the magnets will encourage people to tell their children that piracy is wrong.

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The new Dustin Hoffmann makes his debut

YouTube is changing employee behavior, at least that was the case for a Dunkin' Donuts worker in New Jersey. Dustin Hoffmann was worried about looking like a wimp on security video if he hid or ran away from a robber that started grabbing cash out of an open register. So instead Hoffman, no relation to the actor, picked up the tip mug and started whacking the crook on the head. Hoffman says he'll post the security tape on YouTube as soon as he can.

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Hidden treasure hits a wall

Scruples question of the day. A contractor found $182,000 hidden behind the wall of a house in Cleveland. The money might have been there since 1927. The homeowner has the stash, but she's being sued by the contractor, who claims he should get some of it. They happen to be former high school classmates.

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Keep your 'net close and your ID closer

Here's a new year's resolution: keep your laptop close and a close eye on your online activities.
Experts say 2007 is turning out to be a record year for personal data theft. The trend isn't expected to change anytime soon as hackers stay a step ahead of security and laptops disappear with sensitive information. One data theft analyst says too many companies and agencies are reacting after the fact to breaches rather than looking for holes ahead of time. Hackers will likely hone in more than ever on vulnerabilities with wireless data transmission.

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SocGen's rogue trader dealing with large pool

French bank Societe Generale said Friday that the rogue trader who cost the bank $7.14 billion had been trading with a far bigger pool -- tens of billions of dollars. A bank official confirmed that the size of the trader's positions had reached "several tens of billions of euros," a staggering sum for a bank whose market capitalization is $52.6 billion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with bank policy.

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Ooops, this bank doesn't accept meth

Bank workers may be a little suspicious if they find a small plastic bag with powder along with your cash. That's what happened in Washington state. An 18-year-old woman mistakenly put a baggie of meth in an envelope along with her deposit at the Kitsap Credit Union. The only interest she's earning is from the cops. The customer's been charged with drug possession.

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Gibson in dischord over Rock Band

Gibson Guitar is going after the video game Rock Band. The guitar company is claiming the Electronic Arts game violates its 1999 patent on technology that simulates musical performance. So it has filed a lawsuit. The company already has another lawsuit against Guitar Hero. No word on how much the company wants in compensation.

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Disarm you with a lawsuit

The Smashing Pumpkins are suing their record label of 17 years. The band says Virgin Records illegally used the Pumpkins name and music in a Pepsi promotion with Amazon.com. The lawsuit says Virgin only has permission to sell digital downloads of the band's songs. And that using the Smashing Pumpkins name to sell other things threatens their reputation for artistic integrity.

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Race a core issue of Walgreens lawsuit

About 10,000 former and present black Walgreen's employees will be splitting a multimillion-dollar settlement in a federal racial bias lawsuit against the company.
The suit alleges that Walgreen's assigns black workers to low-performing stores and denies them promotions based on race. Walgreen's is the nation's largest drugstore chain. Under the settlement plan, the company has agreed to pay $20 million to employees. The plan was approved by a federal judge yesterday.

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Former Enron CEO appealing conviction today

Attorneys for the former CEO of Enron are going to court today to press on with an appeal. Jeffrey Skilling's team will argue his 2006 convictions should either be dismissed or he should be retried. They'll argue Skilling's conduct followed the corporate goal of improving stock value for shareholders. Skilling is the highest-ranking executive to be punished for accounting scams and shady business deals that led to the loss of thousands of jobs, more than $60 billion in Enron stock value and more than 2 billion in employee pension plans. Company founder Ken Lay died less than two months after he was convicted.

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Data breach could lead to $24 million settlement

The parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls could pay as much as $24 million dollars to settle a massive data breach.

The settlement with MasterCard is over a breach that exposed tens of millions of credit card numbers to hackers.

The deal is similar to a $40 million dollar payment T.J.X. worked out with Visa at the end of the year.

It waives the rights of the credit card companies to sue the retailer in exchange for money to pay for breach-related costs.

The latest pact comes as new numbers show data breaches in the first three months of this year are more than double the total in last year's first quarter.

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Samsung chef indicted on tax evasion charges

The name Lee Kun-hee might not sound familiar to you. But in South Korea they sure know him. He is the head of Samsung, one of the largest multinationals in the world. And he is now being indicted by South Korean authorities on charges of tax evasion and breach of trust.

Ten other Samsung executives were also charged. But the guy is so powerful that prosecutors said they would not arrest him yet, because of the "negative repercussions" that could have on the countries economy.

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China cracks down on fake goods

China's got a piracy problem on its hands. It's the world's biggest source of illegally copied goods. But with the Olympics coming up -- the country doesn't want fakes to flood the market. So, the country announced today that it is taking special care to prevent piracy. In fact, the government says, it already has started.

Last year, China convicted more than 4,000 people of product piracy. It seized six million pirated items, such as movies or software discs, and shut down 13,000 piracy-oriented businesses. It's as if to say: Don't worry. Send us your Nike swooshes and Adidas stripes. They're safe with us. Wink, wink.

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Indicted Samsung Group chief stepping down

The chairman of South Korea's biggest conglomerate says he is resigning. Samsung Group chief Lee Kun-hee is stepping down less than a week after his indictment on tax evasion charges.

A team of special prosecutors say Lee evaded about $113 million in taxes. The charges followed a three-month investigation into the conglomerate's finances.

Samsung Group's biggest company is Samsung Electronics, which makes computer chips, flat screen TVs and mobile phones.

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Somebody put something in Richie Ramone's contract

A U.S. District judge just dismissed a lawsuit filed by Richie Ramone, a former Ramones drummer. Richie wrote six songs for the rock band, including "Somebody Put Something In My Drink." And he is not getting any cash from Internet sales these days. But the judge said his contract contained language that made it clear that any future modes of music reproduction were covered.

Richie was asking for $1 million in royalties.

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eBay suing Criagslist

Online auction giant eBay is suing the popular Internet ad site Craigslist.

The details are sketchy, but eBay says Craigslist is "unfairly diluting eBay's economic interest" in the Web site. EBay has a 28 percent stake in Craigslist.

EBay's general council says Craigslist has adopted measures that have disadvantaged eBay's investment. He did not specify what actions Craigslist has taken, but he's asking the court to rescind them.

Craigslist says the allegations are unfounded.

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Tropicana files for Chapter 11 protection

Missing a loan payment can get you in trouble. But if the loan is for $1.32 billion, that can push your company into bankruptcy. Casino operator Tropicana applied for Chapter 11 protection on Monday. That missed interest payment broke an agreement the company had with bondholders. Tropicana has 11,000 employees. It owns the renowned resort and casino in Las Vegas and another 12 casinos in the U.S. and the Caribbean.

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They know who you are on YouTube

Viacom is fed up with seeing its copyrighted videos on YouTube. The entertainment company is suing YouTube's parent, Google, for more than $1 billion. This week, the judge hearing the case is ordering Google to hand over every record of every video watched by YouTube users. That's not all -- Google will have to provide user's names and IP addresses. That means YOU, if you've ever watched a video on YouTube. Google argued that giving out this data would invade users' privacy, but the judge didn't buy it.

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