Business briefs 6/28/05

Court rules movie, music industry can sue for piracy

WASHINGTON -- Hollywood and the music industry can file piracy lawsuits against technology companies caught encouraging customers to steal music and movies over the Internet, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The justices largely set aside concerns that new lawsuits would inhibit technology companies from developing high-tech gadgets or services. The justices left in place legal protections for companies that merely learn customers might be using products for illegal purposes.

SEC probes IBM over options expensing

ARMONK, N.Y. -- IBM Corp. said Monday the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating how the company disclosed its methods for expensing employee stock options in the first quarter. The technology giant said it was cooperating. Some analysts complained that IBM led them to believe the options-expensing costs would be higher so as to cushion the disappointing results IBM ended up posting. IBM's first-quarter earnings amounted to 84 cents per share in the quarter, well short of the 90 cents per share analysts had been expecting.

Cable companies don't have to share lines

WASHINGTON -- In a victory for the cable industry, the Supreme Court on Monday said cable companies don't have to share their lines with rival providers of high-speed Internet service. The 6-3 decision in the so-called "Brand X" case upholds a Federal Communications Commission ruling that said the cable companies were exempt from the same regulations requiring phone companies to offer access to independent providers.

Verizon Wireless expands its market horizons

NEW YORK -- Verizon Wireless is bringing broadband Internet service to 15 more markets, for a total of more than 50, extending its lead over Cingular Wireless and Sprint Corp. in delivering faster data transfers to laptop and cell phone users. The expansion of the Verizon data network includes Seattle, St. Louis, Cleveland and the Long Island suburbs of New York City.

-- From wire reports

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NEW YORK (AP) -- Google Inc. unveiled a video-viewing channel on its Internet-leading search engine Monday, creating another media outlet that may open new moneymaking opportunities for a company already so profitable its stock has tripled to above $300 in 10 months.

Watching the amateur and professional videos in Google's index requires free software available at http://video.google.com. The software, consisting of about 1 megabyte, won't do anything except stream Google's videos through the Internet Explorer or Firefox Web browsers.

The limited scope of Google's viewer means it won't be competing -- for now at least -- with the popular multimedia players made by Microsoft Corp. and RealNetworks Inc.

The Mountain View-based company announced the video viewer just a few hours before its red-hot stock reached a new closing high. Google's shares ended Monday's trading session up $6.85, or 2.3 percent, to $304.10 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

The stock went public last August at $85 a share.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Union leaders who govern the AFL-CIO voted Monday to support President John Sweeney's plans to boost organizing efforts and continue political activities for pro-labor candidates and policies, but leaders representing a coalition of five dissident unions voted against Sweeney's proposals.

That coalition of unions challenging Sweeney picked up strength Monday when the main national carpenter's union joined the effort to challenge the AFL-CIO. The carpenters' union broke away from the AFL-CIO in 2001. After the meeting of the 54-member executive council, Sweeney met with leaders of the dissident group.

The AFL-CIO, which represents almost 60 unions with 13 million members, has substantial differences with the five dissident unions, which represent more than 5 million of that total.

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BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) -- Nike Inc.'s fourth-quarter profit grew 15 percent, beating Wall Street's expectations, but the results were markedly lower than the profit growth that the world's largest shoemaker reported in the first three quarters of its fiscal year.

The company also said first-quarter revenue growth would likely be below Wall Street's view.

After the news, shares of Nike fell $3.58, or 4 percent, to close at $85.77 on the New York Stock Exchange. Analysts speculated the drop in stock price was in part because Nike did not offer an earnings outlook for fiscal 2006, which it will release Tuesday at an investors meeting.

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The Dow Jones industrial average fell 7.06, or 0.07 percent, to 10,290.78. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 0.88, or 0.07 percent, at 1,190.69. The Nasdaq composite index lost 8.07, or 0.39 percent, to 2,045.20.

After climbing as high as $60.95 per barrel, an intraday record, the front-month August contract for crude rose 70 cents to close at $60.54 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Heating oil futures, which serve as a proxy for all distillate fuels, including jet fuel and diesel, rose by more than 3 cents to close at $1.68 a gallon. Gasoline futures surged 2.5 cents to close at $1.68 a gallon. On London's International Petroleum Exchange, August Brent was up 94 cents to settle at $59.30 a barrel.