patents
Apple settles suits with HTC
Apple has settled all global lawsuits with China's HTC Corp., signaling a new willingness to resolve patent disputes without resorting to the "thermonuclear war" stance favored by co-founder Steve Jobs.
Apple, which had accused HTC of copying features that made its iPhone unique, "will continue to stay laser-focused on product innovation," Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said in a joint statement Sunday with HTC, which surged as the companies announced a 10-year licensing deal. HTC had said the maker of iPads and MacBooks infringed wireless patents.
The settlement with HTC, the first company Apple sued for violating iPhone patents, suggests that Cook will take a softer line than Jobs, who pledged before his death last year to wage all-out war against smartphones powered by Google's Android software.
social media
Facebook stock up from slump
Facebook shares rallied Monday after earlier slipping the most in three weeks over concerns that shareholders will start selling their shares when a prohibition on the transaction expires Wednesday.
The stock declined as much as 1.8 percent to $18.87 before finishing up 4.5 percent at $20.07. Restrictions on the potential sale of 804 million shares will be lifted Wednesday, followed by 156 million more on Dec. 14.
Facebook has lost about half its value since selling shares at $38 apiece in a May initial public offering. Current and former Facebook employees who have seen the value of equity compensation plunge can sell as lockups, designed to prevent a flood of shares immediately after the IPO, expire.
politics
No Cabinet job for Google chief
Google Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt hopes to end speculation that he's in the running for a Cabinet job in the second Obama administration.
Schmidt's name has been specifically raised in connection with an opening at the Department of Commerce since the resignation of Secretary John Bryson in June. But in a postelection conversation at Google's offices in Mountain View, Schmidt said that while he serves on the president's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, he is not interested in formally joining the administration.
"How can I be clear?" said Schmidt, who has previously denied interest. "I have the same answer. I do not want to be a federal government employee. Google is my home."
biotech
Gilead stock up after hep C trial
Gilead Sciences, the world's biggest maker of HIV medicines, rose to its highest stock price in 20 years Monday after a combination of its experimental hepatitis C therapies cleared the virus in all of the patients in a trial.
Gilead gained almost 14 percent to $73.92 Monday after a presentation of clinical trial results over the weekend at a meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston.
Gilead of Foster City is among several drugmakers racing to develop hepatitis C drugs that act faster with fewer side effects than the current standard of care. Shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, other developers of hepatitis C therapies, dropped on the news.
online retail
EBay, Chinese firm team up
EBay, the world's largest online marketplace, is betting that a new fashion-focused partnership in China will help it break into a market where it failed five years ago.
EBay Style premiered in China on Monday in a deal with luxury online seller Xiu.com, featuring 5,000 brands in apparel, handbags and shoes, said Steve Milton, a spokesman for eBay. The arrangement lets consumers in China buy new items from eBay merchants in the United States while Xiu.com handles sales, shipping and customer service.
Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe needs to expand into new markets to sustain growth that analysts predict will top 20 percent for a second straight year in 2012 - up from a single-digit pace in the preceding years. At stake is the Chinese electronic commerce market, which is poised to more than double to $356.1 billion in 2016, according to Forrester Research.
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