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Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services

Concern counters MPAA pirate suit

The Motion Picture Association of America is accused in a countersuit filed in Los Angeles of paying a hacker for inside information about a company it claims is aiding movie pirates.

The allegations come in a lawsuit filed by Valence Media, which the MPAA sued earlier this year for alleged copyright violations related to its Torrentspy search engine.

The search engine lets users look for downloadable files -- including movies -- on the Web.

In its federal lawsuit filed Wednesday, Valence Media claims the MPAA paid a former associate of Valence principal Justin Bunnell $15,000 for documents, including financial data and company e-mails. The information also allegedly included information about the company's servers, which Bunnell said today are based in the Los Angeles area.

Valence claims in its suit that the documents contained trade secrets, and that an MPAA lawyer told the alleged hacker, ``We don't care how you get it.''

The suit alleges the MPAA has a ``mistaken and misdirected vendetta'' against the company.

The MPAA's Kori Bernards said the claims in Valence's suit ``are completely false.''

``It's clear that Torrentspy is trying to hide the fact that they're committing thievery,'' Bernards said.

Valence's suit seeks unspecified damages.

NBC first to offer iPod news shows

NEW YORK -- NBC said Thursday it will become the first broadcast news organization to offer news programming for sale for viewing on computers and iPods through Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service.

A variety of current, archival and specially produced material will be available for $1.99 a download through the iTunes store.

Brian Williams will be host of some specially created ``Time Capsule'' programs through the Web. They include interviews with John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, a tour of the White House offered by former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and interviews with the rock band U2.

Tom Brokaw has also packaged programming related to his book ``The Greatest Generation,'' NBC said.

More recent material includes Williams' narration of his return to Hurricane Katrina-stricken areas and the CNBC special ``The Age of Wal- Mart.''

Oomph leaving today's economy

WASHINGTON -- The economy showed even more pep than initially thought in the first quarter, zipping ahead at a 5.3 percent pace. But a less energetic housing market and high energy prices are now taking out some of the oomph.

The figure released by the Commerce Department on Thursday showed gross domestic product during the January-to-March quarter surpassing the 4.8 percent annual rate estimated a month ago. It marked the strongest growth spurt in 2(bul) years. The upgrade mostly reflected stronger U.S. exports and better inventory building by businesses.

GDP, which measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States, totaled $11.39 trillion in the first quarter when annualized and adjusted for inflation.

Home Depot CEO stifles pay debate

ATLANTA -- The Home Depot Inc.'s chief executive did little Thursday to quell the uproar among some shareholders over his hefty pay, stifling debate at the company's annual meeting as the board members who approved the compensation didn't show up to defend themselves.

Despite the criticism and some institutional shareholders withholding votes, the company's directors were all re-elected. Shareholder proposals seeking to allow investors to have a say on the CEO's pay and to restrict retirement benefits for senior executives were rejected.

The only shareholder proposal to pass was one changing the voting structure for the election of directors.

Besides CEO Bob Nardelli, who is board chairman, none of the other directors of the Atlanta-based company attended the meeting in Wilmington, Del.

Home Depot said in a statement that many of the directors were handling business at the company headquarters.