Tech: Apple faces legal challenges
Samsung has “won a significant legal victory against Apple,” said Ian Sherr and Jessica E. Lessin in The Wall Street Journal. In a ruling last week, the U.S. International Trade Commission said the Cupertino, Calif., company violated a Samsung patent on wireless technology. “Unless vetoed by President Barack Obama or blocked by an appeals court, the ruling would bar the importation of” older iPhones and iPads that run on AT&T’s network. It’s unclear how much revenue would be lost from banning U.S. sales of the iPhone 4 and iPad 2, since newer versions of both products now dominate. Apple vowed to appeal the ruling.
The Samsung case isn’t Apple’s only legal problem, said Charles Arthur in The Guardian (U.K.). The Justice Department last week delivered opening arguments in an antitrust suit accusing Apple of colluding with publishers to fix the prices of e-books. “Though the company does not face a fine, the outcome could shape what deals online retailers can make with content owners.” Five publishers—Penguin Group, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan—have already agreed to settle and pay a total of $164 million. U.S. District Judge Denise Cotehas urged Apple to settle, but CEO Tim Cook insisted the company was “going to fight.”
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Retail: Amazon bulks up grocery business
Amazon is planning a “major move” to expand its online grocery business, said Alistair Barr in Reuters.com. Sources said the Internet retailer would soon expand AmazonFresh, an online-grocery business “that it has been quietly developing for years,” allowing it to better target “one of the largest retail sectors yet to be upended by e-commerce.” Amazon has been testing the service in Seattle for five years, and now plans to spread its operations to Los Angeles and San Francisco. If the expansion goes well, the firm “may launch AmazonFresh in 20 other urban areas in 2014, including some outside the United States.”
Cars: Chrysler won’t recall fire-prone Jeeps
Chrysler is refusing to recall 2.7 million Jeeps “that the government contends are defective and prone to fires,” said Bill Vlasic in The New York Times. The automaker said it did not agree with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s recall recommendation, which said the location of gas tanks behind the Jeeps’ rear axle “could make them more vulnerable to being ruptured in an accident.” In a letter to Chrysler, the agency “cited 32 rear-impact collisions that caused fatal fires, resulting in 44 deaths in Jeep Grand Cherokees, and five accidents that resulted in seven deaths in the Jeep Liberty.”
Funds: Investors jump ship on SAC Capital
Outside investors “are taking their money and walking away” from SAC Capital, said Maureen Farrell in CNN.com, as federal prosecutors ramp up their insider-trading case against the fund’s founder, Steven A. Cohen. The Blackstone Group, “perhaps SAC’s largest and most high-profile client,” has decided to pull $550 million from the fund, and Morgan Stanley will withdraw its $180 million. Some analysts speculate that Cohen might give back the remaining $4.3 billion in outside capital and rededicate the fund to administering his own $9 billion fortune.
Jobs: Private sector adds 135,000 jobs
Private businesses added “a disappointing 135,000 jobs in May,” said Paul Davidson in USA Today. The numbers, reported by payroll processor ADP, fall short of the 167,000 job gains predicted by economists. The firm said small businesses created 58,000 jobs, while medium-sized and large ones added just 39,000 each. The professional and business services sector fared best, adding 42,000 jobs. Trade, transportation, and utilities gained 31,000 jobs, while manufacturers lost 6,000.
