WASHINGTON (AP) – Well-known companies such as Dell Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Marriott International Inc. are lobbying Congress for tougher laws targeting online scammers who profit from their brand names.United as the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, 10 companies have hired the law firm Alston and Bird LLP to persuade federal lawmakers of the need to crack down against those who claim Web addresses, or domain names, that include — or even resemble — a legitimate company’s trademark.The coalition estimates that so-called cybersquatting costs companies worldwide more than $1 billion annually in diverted customer sales and enforcement expenses.In the past, Internet speculators claimed famous-sounding or popular domain names in the hopes of selling them to corporations for thousands or millions of dollars. They also purchased Web domain names that sounded like a popular company as a way to quickly generate traffic and sell online advertising.But the coalition says scammers increasingly employ cybersquatting to sell counterfeit goods, secretly install malicious software on computers or dupe customers into providing personal data through, hurting both companies and their customers.Cybersquatting enables ‘phishing’ scams, said Paul Martino, a former counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee from 2001 to 2005 on Internet issues and now a lobbyist for the coalition.Phishers attempt to lure Internet users via e-mails to counterfeit Web sites disguised as trusted companies in order to get sensitive data, such as credit cards.’The bigger the brand name, the more lucrative it is to cybersquat the brand,’ Martino said.Both the Federal Trade Commission and the FBI’s cyber division said that under existing laws cybersquatting, in and of itself, is not necessarily a crime.’If the intent of the (Web) site is to defraud or to commit some other illegal act, then it’s a crime and we can possibly step in,’ FBI spokeswoman Cathy Milhoan said.Dell says it sees 500 new infringements of its brand name each month. Citing a report by MarkMonitor, a brand-protection firm, the group said cybersquatting grew by 248 percent in the past year.Fighting cybersquatting has become more difficult, companies said.Many scammers now use automated technology to buy a domain name, test its profitability and then drop it for a refund within an accepted 5-day grace period, tactics referred to as ‘tasting’ and ‘kiting.’About 2 million domain names daily are tasted and kited this way by exploiting the grace period, originally designed to rectify legitimate mistakes such as mistyping a domain name.Susan Crane, Wyndham Worldwide Corp.’s group vice president of intellectual property, said this makes it almost impossible to find the true identities of cybersquatters, who also provide false information on registration forms.’You can never catch who has it because the ball keeps bouncing around,’ she said.However, a fear among domain name holders who use their sites for legitimate purposes is that deep-pocketed corporations could unfairly target them as cybersquatters and try to take away their Web addresses.Josh Bourne, the coalition’s president, said a 1999 federal consumer protection law against cybersquatting isn’t deterring the practice and civil penalties — which now range from $1,000 to $100,000 — aren’t enough, he added.He said the 5-day grace period should also be eliminated, which would require the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the Internet’s key oversight agency, to change its policy. The group will also seek an international treaty on cybersquatting..Bourne would not divulge the group’s budget or how much they plan spend lobbying, but said: ‘Money isn’t an issue.’In addition to Martino, the firm’s other registered lobbyists include Naotaka Matsukata, who was director of policy planning for former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick and Eric Shimp, who handled trade and investment issues also at the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.The coalition’s members also include: Verizon Communications Inc., Hilton Hotels Corp., American International Group Inc., HSBC Holdings Plc., Eli Lilly & Co. and Swiss-based Compagnie Financiere Richemont SA, which makes Cartier jewelry.–Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Synthes has setback in FDA panel backing of Medtronic spinal disk – report
ZURICH (Thomson Financial) – Synthes Inc has had a small setback in the US after a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval for Medtronic Inc’s Bryan Disk, a product competing with Synthes’s ProDisc, said a report in Swiss bi-weekly Finanz und Wirtschaft.
The Bryan Disk, a polyurethane and titanium implant to replace worn-out spinal disks, could be on the market by the beginning of 2008, said the report.
Medtronic is expected to see sales of around 200 mln usd by 2010, the report added.
On Monday, Medtronic won FDA approval for Prestige, a steel version of the disk.
Medtronic now has a headstart on Synthes, as FDA approval for Synthes’ Prodisc is not expected before the end of 2007 or beginning of 2008.
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N.M.: Company fined in fireworks case
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – A federal judge has fined a Sandia Park company $7,500 for violating a law against selling chemicals and components used to make illegal fireworks.
U.S. Magistrate Lorenzo Garcia on Friday also placed United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies on probation for three years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.
The agency, in a news release announcing the end of the case, said the company pleaded guilty to three counts of introducing into interstate commerce and aiding and abetting the introduction into interstate commerce of banned hazardous substances.
United Nuclear, its founder Bob Lazar and accountant Joy White also entered into a consent degree that permanently limits the amount of fireworks-related chemicals the firm can sell in the future; prohibits sales of any fuses, tubes and end caps; and requires United Nuclear to destroy remaining inventory of components and specified chemicals.
Lazar could not be reached for comment at his business, which is closed on Fridays.
The company sold components and chemicals used to make such illegal fireworks as M-80s and quarter sticks, which are banned by federal law and product safety commission regulations, the commission said.
The commission’s acting chairwoman, Nancy Nord, said the court ruling was a victory for consumer safety.
United Nuclear also sells polonium-210 in invisibly tiny amounts exempt from federal licensing restrictions. That’s the radioactive isotope blamed in the death of Kremlin critic and former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko in London last Nov. 23.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Pfizer ends trials of PF-3512676 as lung cancer treatment UPDATE
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – Pfizer Inc said it has ended trials of PF-3512676 in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy as a treatment for lung cancer.The company said this includes two Phase 3 and two Phase 2 clinical trials.Pfizer said an interim analysis of the Phase 3 trials by an independent data safety monitoring committee (DSMC) showed there was no evidence that PF-3512676 produced additional clinical efficacy over that achieved with the standard cytotoxic chemotherapy regimen alone.’The DSMC concluded that the risk-benefit profile did not justify continuation of the trials,’ the company said.Pfizer said it licensed PF-3512676 from Coley Pharmaceutical Group Inc in 2005.tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.comwjCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
News Corp. reaches deal to buy Dow Jones
NEW YORK (AP) – Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. has reached a tentative agreement to buy Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal, the Journal reported on its Web site.
Negotiators from the two companies on Monday reached an agreement in principle for the original $5 billion that Murdoch had offered, and it will go to Dow Jones’ board Tuesday for its approval, the Journal said, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.
The deal would still need approval from Dow Jones’ controlling shareholders, the Bancroft family, which has been divided on a sale to News Corp. because of concerns over whether the Journal would maintain its editorial independence.
Christopher Bancroft, a Dow Jones director, recently has been approaching major stockholders in an attempt to buy enough shares of Dow Jones to block a sale.
Michael B. Elefante, the Bancroft family’s lead trustee, has scheduled a meeting for Thursday to present the agreement to the family and is expected to give the family members several days to make a decision, the Journal reported.
Representatives of Dow Jones and News Corp. did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment.
Murdoch, News Corp.’s chairman, resisted pressure from Dow Jones to raise his initial $60 a share offer, which represented a premium of about 65 percent over the mid-$30s level that Dow Jones stock was trading at before the proposal became public in early May.
Dow Jones shares fell 54 cents to $56.95 Monday.
Murdoch has long wanted to own the Journal, which has tremendous clout in the business world and wins many prizes for editorial excellence. Murdoch has said he would invest in the Journal’s online and overseas operations, and tap its resources to help build a business-themed cable news channel that would rival General Electric Co.’s highly profitable CNBC network.
A union representing Journal reporters and other Dow Jones employees has objected to Murdoch’s bid, saying he would downgrade the quality of the paper’s coverage and tilt its stories to suit his business interests.
The Bancrofts originally rebuffed Murdoch’s approach but then reversed themselves and agreed to meet with him in early June to discuss their concerns about keeping the Journal’s coverage free from corporate interference. The talks led to an agreement to create a committee that would have to approve the hiring or firing of top editors at the Journal.
Dow Jones directors have been searching for rivals to Murdoch’s $5 billion bid, but it seemed unlikely that anyone would top it.
A committee of Dow Jones directors, including a representative of the Bancroft family, met last week with supermarket billionaire Ron Burkle and Web entrepreneur Brad Greenspan to explore a competing deal, but it wasn’t clear whether a solid alternative to Murdoch’s offer would emerge.
Besides the Journal, Dow Jones also owns Dow Jones Newswires, the Factiva news database, Barron’s, a group of community newspapers and several well-known stock market indicators including the Dow Jones industrial average.
News Corp. owns the Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel, newspapers in the United Kingdom, Murdoch’s native Australia and the New York Post, the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studio and MySpace, the online social hangout site.
The Bancroft clan trace their ownership of Dow Jones to Clarence Barron, a Dow Jones correspondent who bought control of the company in 1902. Over the years, their ties to Dow Jones have become more remote, and currently none of them works in the company’s day-to-day operations, but they control the company through a special class of shares that has powerful voting rights. Despite owning just 25 percent of the company, they exercise 64 percent of the shareholder vote.
Other newspaper publishers also have two classes of stock that allow families to retain control, including The New York Times Co. and The Washington Post Co., but in those two cases the families have greater involvement in day-to-day affairs.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
O2 to dump i-mode mobile internet service – report
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – O2, the mobile phone company owned by Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, is understood to be dumping its i-mode mobile internet service in the UK, due to low take-up and a lack of attractive handsets, says the Guardian, without citing sources.
Telefonica has spent 10 mln stg on the product, but it has brought just 260,000 users in the UK. However, the service has performed well in Ireland, the paper says, where it will continue to be run.
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Coca-Cola: Competitors smeared Dasani
ATLANTA (AP) – The Coca-Cola Co. said Thursday its Argentinian subsidiary has filed a criminal complaint against executives of a unit of French food and drink maker Danone and public relations firm Euro RSCG, accusing them of orchestrating a smear campaign against Coke’s Dasani water brand.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola said in a statement that the complaint was filed in Argentina against two executives at Aguas Danone de Argentina and an executive at Euro RSCG Buenos Aires under the country’s Unfair Trade Practices statute. Euro RSCG is based in New York.
Coca-Cola alleges the executives were behind a widely circulated two-year Internet campaign that made false statements against Dasani.
The campaign, Coca-Cola said, called into question the quality of Dansani, misleading consumers and hurting the reputation and sales of Desani and parent Coca-Cola in Argentina and other Latin American countries.
Coke is seeking damages of up to $10,000, spokesman Dana Bolden said.
Dasani was launched in Argentina in October 2005, and then released in other countries in Latin America.
Immediately following the launch, Coca-Cola said, the brand was maligned as ‘bottled tap water’ and ‘cancer water’ on the Internet.
The campaign extended beyond Argentina to Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Peru, Ecuador and a number of other Latin American markets, Coca-Cola said. Major customers in Argentina have refused to sell Dasani because of the rumors, Coca-Cola said.
Coca-Cola said it will consider whether other executives at Aguas Danone de Argentina, Euro RSCG Buenos Aires or other agencies should be included in the complaint.
Messages left Thursday with a spokeswoman at Euro RSCG and with Group Danone SA’s public relations staff in France seeking comment were not immediately returned.
Coca-Cola says Dasani is water ‘from a municipal source’ that is ‘subjected to multi-barrier filtration,’ purified and enhanced with minerals. The company said the water is from local sources in different countries.
Outside Coke’s annual meeting in 2006, activists were offering a tapwater challenge to passers-by to try to demonstrate that Dasani tastes no better than municipal tap water but is much more expensive.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Indonesia terror threat serious, says Australian PM
SYDNEY (Thomson Financial) – Australian Prime Minister John Howard said Monday the threat of a terrorist attack in Indonesia was serious and justified an upgraded travel warning.
The foreign affairs department on Sunday warned Australians to stay away from Indonesia because of fears that an attack could be imminent.
Howard said travel advisories were only issued on strong intelligence.
‘All terrorist threats are serious and the problem is if you don’t warn them and something happens
you are legitimately criticised,’ he said in a television interview.
A total of 92 Australian holidaymakers were killed in two bomb attacks on the popular Indonesian resort island of Bali in 2002 and 2005.
‘We are the last country in the world to want to say anything unnecessarily serious about Indonesia, because Indonesia is a friendly country, but we have above all of that a greater obligation to warn our citizens,’ Howard said.
‘They have to stay away from places frequented by Westerners, that’s the advice we give.’
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the travel warning was not based on information about a specific attack.
‘We don’t have any information designating a specific target or for that matter a specific time of a terrorist attack,’ Downer told national radio.
‘We have a constant flow of information about possible terrorist activity in Indonesia.’
The recent arrest of high ranking operatives in the Islamic extremist group blamed for the Bali bombings, Jemaah Islamiah (JI), was a reminder of the ongoing threat, he said.
The head of JI, Zarkasi, and the leader of its military wing, Abu Dujana, were arrested by Indonesian anti-terror police last month along with six other suspected militants.
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China’s oil-tanker construction falls behind rising oil imports – COSCO official
SHANGHAI (XFN-ASIA) – The rate of construction of oil tankers for Chinese shipping lines is falling behind the rate of increase in oil imports, which may pose a threat to the country’s energy security, a China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co (COSCO) official said.
The manager of the COSCO group shipping research department, Kong Fanhua, told a forum here that only 20 pct of China’s seaborne oil imports had been carried by Chinese shipping lines last year.
Kong said China’s tanker fleet did not meet the country’s needs, and that more ships were needed.
‘China’s oil-tanker building has been slow due to high construction costs,’ Kong said.
He said the COSCO group, the parent of China COSCO Holdings Ltd (also HK 1919), was building seven very large crude carriers (VLCCs), with one or two to be delivered by the end of this year or early next year. At present, COSCO has 10 VLCCs.
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Buying China-free products a hard task
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Whether U.S. shoppers are concerned about food and product safety, set on making a political statement against outsourcing or simply intent on showing a little patriotism, they are sure to have a tough time avoiding products made in China.
Chinese exports have been in the spotlight since the deaths of dogs and cats in North America attributed to tainted Chinese wheat gluten, followed by this week’s recall of Chinese-made radial tires and an alert Thursday by the Food and Drug Administration, warning about contaminated Chinese seafood.
My family hit some stores to see how hard it would it be for the average consumer to pull off a ‘Made in China’ boycott — even for just a week.
My sons’ well-worn sneakers were starting to resemble sandals, so our family headed to the Empire Mall in Sioux Falls in search of a couple of cheap pairs to get the boys, ages 10 and 12, through the summer.
The quest began in the J.C. Penney shoe department. We soon found out this was going to be no easy task: Adidas, made in China; Sketchers, made in China; Reebok, made in China or Indonesia; Nike, made in Indonesia, Vietnam or Thailand.
Then, a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars caught my eye. An American classic, right? Well, sort of — an Indonesian-made classic now sold by Nike Inc.
We finally found some New Balance shoes and I recalled reading that the company still makes some running shoes in the United States. The first few said ‘Made in China,’ but we then spotted three adult styles marked ‘Made in the USA of imported materials.’
That sounded as close as we could get, so I asked my 12-year-old which of the three he liked.
‘This one,’ he said, pointing to the $75 shoe he’ll likely outgrow in months.
‘Let’s keep looking,’ I said.
We headed to a couple of other shoe stores — Famous Footwear and Payless — and found several other styles of sneakers mostly made in China and Indonesia.
Famous Footwear had one U.S.-made New Balance sneaker on sale for $40, but my oldest didn’t like the color combination so we moved on. I guess those well-worn sneakers can last another week until this little experiment ends.
Shopping for non China-made groceries at our local Hy-Vee grocery store seemed to be presenting few challenges, but it turned out to be more of a case of blissful ignorance than well-informed consumerism.
Products in nonfood aisles communicated their origins better than their edible counterparts. Labels of Suave shampoo, Dial hand soap, Kleenex tissues, Ziploc bags, Solo cups, Bounty napkins, Tide laundry detergent, SOS pads and Dawn dish detergent all read ‘Made in USA,’ although none of the labels got specific about the ingredients.
Toothpaste was a bit more confusing — a concern considering some brands toothpaste made in China were recently found to contain a chemical called diethylene glycol, which is used to make antifreeze.
AquaFresh said ‘Made in USA’ right on the box, but boxes of Crest and Colgate named only the companies that distributed the product, Procter & Gamble Co. and Colgate-Palmolive Co. respectively.
Procter and Gamble on its Web site says the Crest toothpaste found in stores is made in North America, not China. Colgate-Palmolive on its site says Colgate toothpaste is safe regardless of where the company manufactures it.
The labels on most food products we looked at were of little help.
The 2002 Farm Bill passed by Congress mandated country-of-origin labeling for seafood, beef, lamb, pork, fish, fruits, vegetables and peanuts, but the Bush administration has delayed its implementation for everything except seafood until October 2008.
Some fruits and vegetables sported voluntary stickers, but shoppers always should consider the calendar when shopping for produce, as stores get a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables from Central and South America during winter months.
None of the sweets in the candy aisle said ‘Made in China,’ but most are likely made with at least one ingredient that originated there, said William Hubbard, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official.
Candy wrappers typically list just the U.S. distributor of the products, so label readers can’t determine the origin of the vanillin found in a Nestle Crunch bar, the carageenan in a Baby Ruth or the gum arabic in a pack of Mentos.
Those three ingredients, and numerous other flavoring and preservative additives, commonly come from Chinese companies, Hubbard said.
‘The cocoa might come from another country and the sugar might be American, so you are not going to get a country of origin on that product,’ Hubbard said.
Companies in China produce about 80 percent of the world’s wheat gluten, common in most breads, cakes and cookies, and 80 percent of its sorbic acid, a preservative used in just about everything, he said.
We found a bit of irony in the ethnic food section, where a box of Golden Bowl fortune cookies and a bag of Kokuho Rose Rice brand sushi rice both sported ‘Product of USA’ labels.
My boys have been asking to get their own tennis rackets — ours look like they once belonged to Bjorn Borg and Chris Evert — so we headed to a couple of sporting goods stores and Wal-Mart.
All of the rackets we found were made in China, but at least we were able to pick up a can of Penn tennis balls that were made in America.
We moved a couple aisles down to Wal-Mart’s toy section and found tons of products originating in China, including action figures, vehicles, stuffed animals and games.
Packages of Hot Wheels miniature cars, once a U.S.-made icon, now read, ‘Made in China, Malaysia or Thailand as marked.’ Matchbox cars hail from either China or Thailand.
The classic capitalist board game Monopoly still qualifies, though with a caveat. ‘Made in the USA with dice and tokens made in China,’ the box reads.
At least a deck of Bicycle playing cards is still homegrown, although we’ll have to switch our game to rummy as the cribbage board was born in China.
With the Fourth of July approaching, I decided to check out the store’s display of U.S. flags and found that all were domestic, with the exception of one style made in China.
I knew the small appliance section would likely be a lost cause for this quest, but I decided to take a look. All of the toasters and all but one of the coffee makers originated in China. A Bunn 10-cup professional brewer said it was assembled in the United States, but it was priced in the higher end of Wal-Mart’s selection.
Hubbard said all consumers receive value from the ubiquity of Chinese-made appliances, but when it comes to food products and ingredients, companies need to be more vigilant in tracking their supply chains.
‘Unfortunately in the case of foods and drugs, there’s a safety issue on top of the quality issue,’ Hubbard said. ‘If the toaster doesn’t work you just take it back to Wal-Mart and they give you another one. But if the food is unsafe, that’s a different matter.’
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