Judge upholds verdict against Bedford company
THE REGION
A judge upheld a jury's $128 million patent-infringement verdict that threatens to bankrupt a Bedford provider of billing services to some of the nation's largest cellular carriers. US District Judge Edward F. Harrington denied Boston Communications Group's motion to reduce a jury's May 20 damages award. That followed a 51-day trial in a lawsuit brought by Freedom Wireless Inc., a privately held developer of technology used for prepaid wireless billing. ''Our fight is far from over," E.Y. Snowden, president and chief executive of Boston Communications, said in a prepared statement. ''We do not believe that we infringed Freedom Wireless' patents or that $128 million bears any relationship to a reasonable royalty that BCGI would have paid for a license to the patent rights." (AP)
Sycamore Networks will restate latest results
Sycamore Networks, a maker of fiber-optic networking equipment, said it will restate financial results for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2005 to reflect additional stock-compensation costs. The Chelmsford company on Aug. 26 said it would restate results for fiscal 2000 to 2004 by $22.8 million. The company's latest fiscal year ended July 31. (Bloomberg)
THE NATION
Chip maker denies charges in lawsuit filed by AMD
Responding to an antitrust lawsuit filed by a rival computer chip maker, Intel Corp. denied its business practices broke any laws and dismissed the claims as ''factually incorrect and contradictory." In a 63-page response to the 48-page suit filed by Advanced Micro Devices, Intel said its rival is smaller because of the way it handles its business -- not from any wrongdoing by the world's largest semiconductor company. ''AMD has made its own business decisions and choices that have determined its position in the marketplace," said Intel general counsel Bruce Sewell. ''AMD seeks to instead blame Intel for the many business failures AMD has experienced." AMD was not surprised by Intel's response, said Tom McCoy, AMD's chief administrative officer. (AP)
US moves to seize assets of Bayou Management
Federal prosecutors said Bayou Management LLC had engaged in securities fraud and sought to freeze all the hedge fund's assets, including $100 million seized from a bank account in May. The US attorney's office in New York said it filed a civil action to seize the funds. No criminal action was taken by prosecutors. Bayou's founder, Samuel Israel III, said in July he would shut the fund's four hedge funds, which he managed, and return investors' money in August. That didn't happen, triggering probes by Connecticut banking regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FBI. (Bloomberg)
Import quotas reimposed on some Chinese textiles
The Bush administration said it was reimposing import quotas on two types of Chinese clothing and textiles, intensifying trade tensions in advance of a White House visit next week by China's president. The administration said it would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads as well as bras, girdles, panty girdles, and corsets in response to a surge in shipments that have battered the US industry. The action was taken hours after US and Chinese negotiators broke off an effort in Beijing to reach a comprehensive agreement covering all categories of US-made clothing and textiles being disrupted by a surge in Chinese imports since global quotas were removed Jan. 1. The administration said it was extending until Oct. 1 a deadline for making decisions in four other cases covering sweaters, robes, knit fabric, and wool trousers. (AP)
Dollar loses ground vs. most major currencies
The dollar fell against the euro as the European Central Bank refrained from cutting interest rates amid slow economic growth and as worries persisted about higher oil prices after Hurricane Katrina. The euro bought $1.2487 in late New York trading, up more than a cent from $1.2325 the night before. The dollar dipped slightly against the Japanese yen to buy 109.88 yen from 110.71 on Wednesday. The British pound rose more than 3 cents to $1.8326 from $1.8016 in New York. The dollar fell to 1.2349 Swiss francs from 1.2549, and to 1.1833 Canadian dollars from 1.1870. (AP)
MCI won't face federal prosecution for $11b fraud
Federal prosecutors said they will not prosecute MCI, the post-bankruptcy version of WorldCom, for the $11 billion fraud carried out at the telecommunications firm. Manhattan US Attorney David Kelley said MCI has fired virtually every employee who ''played even a tangential role" in the fraud, which came to light three years ago. ''The public interest has been sufficiently vindicated by the successful criminal prosecution of the principal criminal wrongdoers -- Bernard Ebbers and Scott Sullivan," Kelley's office said. (AP)
