Mass. allows claim by four delivery drivers to proceed

The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has ruled that complaints by four Arab-American men that they were harassed by managers at FedEx Corp. -- who called at least two of them "terrorists" -- may proceed. The state agency rejected FedEx's call to dismiss the complaints. FedEx spokesman Perry Colosimo described the charges as "unsubstantiated allegations." The four drivers charge that two managers, David Goyette and Mike Melnyk, harassed them and that higher management allowed the abuse to continue. Colosimo said that Goyette no longer works for FedEx and that Melnyk was being represented by FedEx lawyers in the matter. (Reuters)

QLT Inc. and a Novartis AG unit agreed to have an arbitrator decide whether QLT researchers should be listed on a Boston hospital's patent for the vision-loss treatment Visudyne. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary will drop infringement claims against the companies, Vancouver, British Columbia-based QLT said. QLT said its researchers and colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital should have been named as inventors on the patent. Visudyne, made by QLT and sold by Novartis, treats macular degeneration, the leading cause of vision loss in people over 55. (Bloomberg)

McAfee Inc., the world's second-biggest maker of security software, named former EMC Corp. customer operations head David DeWalt as chief executive after a probe into its stock-options practices. The appointment was confirmed by a McAfee spokeswoman after Hopkinton-based EMC disclosed DeWalt's departure yesterday. DeWalt, who joined EMC in 2003, will remain at the world's largest maker of data-storage computers and software through April 1, an EMC spokesman said. EMC vice chairman Bill Teuber will expand his duties and Bill Scannell was promoted to executive vice president of global sales programs, the company said. (Bloomberg)

Forrester Research Inc., a Cambridge provider of technology and market research, plans to restate nine years of results to include costs from back dated stock-option grants. The company said it doesn't know the full scope of the restatement. Because of the restatement, Forrester said it won't be able to file an annual report with regulators by the March 16 deadline. Forrester's chief financial officer, Warren Hadley, was ousted in December after the probe found he received irregular grants. The company said the restatement will cover 1998 to 2006. (Bloomberg)

Intel Corp., the world's largest computer-chip maker, and semiconductor developer AmberWave Systems Corp. settled lawsuits over patents for ways to make chips. Intel will license closely held AmberWave's technology for 10 years, Intel said. The companies also agreed to continue talks and evaluate Salem, N.H.-based AmberWave's research and development efforts. All other terms are confidential, Intel said. (Bloomberg)

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., the owner of A&P and Food Emporium supermarkets, agreed to buy Pathmark Stores Inc. for $689.7 million to expand in the Northeast. Pathmark investors will get about $13.21 a share -- $9 in cash and 0.13 share of Great Atlantic stock, the companies said. Great Atlantic is paying 9.6 percent more than Pathmark's stock price on Feb. 26, the day before the companies said they were discussing a merger. The new chain will have 550 stores, mostly in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, and annual sales of $11 billion. (Bloomberg)

Light, sweet crude for April delivery tumbled $1.57 to settle at $60.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on continued concerns over stock market declines and an indication by an OPEC official that the cartel won't cut production at its meeting this month. Qatar's oil minister, Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah, said the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries won't decrease production if crude oil stays near its current basket price of $58.34 a barrel, according to Dow Jones Newswires. (AP)