Wal-Mart's Web site disrupted by traffic

NEW YORK -- High traffic disrupted Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s Web site for much of Friday, one of the year's busiest shopping days. The Walt Disney Co. also had problems handling the rush of online activity Friday, while Amazon.com Inc.'s site had brief disruptions a day earlier due to a Thanksgiving Day sale on Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 video game machines. For much of Friday morning, attempts to open Walmart.com resulted blank pages, delays or other problems. By early afternoon, visitors were simply told to come back later. The site appeared to be back to normal midafternoon Friday, after frustrating countless potential shoppers. Keynote, which regularly monitors performance at leading Web sites, said its probes began detecting problems at about 3:30 a.m. Central time.

Auto analysts divided on November sales

DETROIT -- Auto industry analysts are divided on how November's sales are shaping up, but they agree on one thing: The month is likely to be a lousy one for Chrysler. Jesse Toprak, chief economist for Edmunds.com, a research site for car buyers, estimates that based on preliminary data from dealers, industrywide sales will be 6 percent higher compared with November 2005, with all of the top six manufacturers reporting gains except for DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group. But judging from the slow traffic at the Web site of Kelley Blue Book, which tracks auto pricing, that firm predicts a down month compared to a year earlier. Through the first three weeks of November, inquiries dropped even for Toyota Motor Corp., which has posted sales gains all year, said Jack Nerad, executive market analyst. Although he was reluctant to make specific predictions, Nerad said traffic on his company's Web site generally corresponds to sales data when it is released by the automakers. November, he said, traditionally is a low sales month, and this year, traffic has been lower for nearly all manufacturers.

Firms await high court's review in patent case

WASHINGTON -- Some of the largest companies in the United States are facing off in a Supreme Court case over gas pedals, with one side hoping the justices will put the brakes on an out-of-control patent system. The court is scheduled to hear arguments Tuesday on what's obvious when older inventions are combined to create something new. The law says an invention that's "obvious" isn't patentable, but the definition isn't clear despite decades of litigation. The ambiguity, critics say, has led to an explosion of patents as companies stake claims on everything in sight, from strategies for avoiding taxes to golf ball designs. The result has been extensive and costly legal wrangling as companies of all sizes fight over who's infringing on what. In some cases, small companies acquire patents not to develop new products but to sue for a quick windfall.

-- From wire reports