BRIEFCASE.Byline: -- Staff and Wire Services PayPal founder accused of fraud PayPal founder Peter A. Thiel and his hedge-fund management company, Clarium Capital Management, are accused of fraud in a lawsuit filed Monday. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Amisil Holdings Ltd., names Thiel and Clarium as defendants, along with Clarium officers Jason Portnoy and Mark Woolway. Amisil, a risk capital investor, seeks to recover the value of its investment in Clarium, which it said is worth as much as $18 million. The suit claims that although Clarium received large sums from the 2002 PayPal initial public offering and its subsequent sale to eBay Inc., Amisil received no return on its Clarium investment from the transactions. Clarium General Counsel Bruce Gibney said in a statement that Clarium believes Amisil's claims are based on numerous misstatements of fact and have no merit. PayPal is a San Jose-based online payment-processing company. EchoStar setback in feud with TiVo DALLAS -- A federal judge has handed the owner of the Dish satellite-TV network another setback in its feud with TiVo Inc., delaying a countersuit coun·ter·sue tr.v. coun·ter·sued, coun·ter·su·ing, coun·ter·sues Law To bring proceedings against (a plaintiff) in direct opposition to a suit brought against onself. against the pioneer in digital video-recording technology. U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline M. Craven blocked EchoStar Communications Corp.'s patent-infringement lawsuit against TiVo and Humax USA Inc. while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office reviews patents claimed by EchoStar. Craven, who issued the stay last month, made it final when EchoStar declined to appeal, TiVo spokesman Elliot Sloane said Monday. TiVo's revolutionary digital video recorder See DVR. , or DVR (1) (Digital Video Recorder) A device that records video onto a hard disk from one or more ceiling mounted video cameras. Part of a security system, the DVR typically supports 4, 8 or 16 separate camera channels. , technology records TV programs without the hassles of videotape, letting users pause live TV, view instant replays and begin watching programs even before the recording has finished. TiVo sued EchoStar in 2004, and in April a jury in Marshall, Texas  Marshall is a major city of the northeastern region of the U.S. state of Texas, United States. It is a major cultural and educational center in East Texas, and the multi-state Ark-La-Tex region. , found that EchoStar had infringed on a TiVo patent in making its own set-top box The cable TV box that sits on "top" of the TV "set," although it is often located several feet away in an equipment rack. The set-top box descrambles the premium channels and provides a tuner for the higher cable numbers that very old TVs did not support. with DVR capabilities. Dish satellite TV firm reaches deal DENVER -- Satellite TV provider EchoStar Communications Corp. said Monday it has reached a $100 million settlement with affiliate associations of three major networks over distant-programming service but has been unable to resolve differences with Fox Network. The agreement could end a nine-year lawsuit over the Dish Network See DBS. operator's practice of selling programming from ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , NBC NBC in full National Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. commercial broadcasting company. It was formed in 1926 by RCA Corp., General Electric Co. (GE), and Westinghouse and was the first U.S. company to operate a broadcast network. , CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. and Fox stations that originates in one market to subscribers who live in a different city. It still must be approved by a judge in Florida, where the suit is pending. EchoStar said it will pay the affiliate associations $100 million to protect subscribers from the shut-off of distant channels and expand the number of markets in which it offers local network services from 165 to 175 by the end of the year. EchoStar, the nation's second-largest satellite TV operator, said Fox Network, representing 25 Fox owned-and-operated stations, pulled out of the universal settlement last week. Short-term rates on T-bills decline WASHINGTON -- Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills fell in Monday's auction, with the six-month bill dropping to the lowest level since mid-June. The Treasury Department auctioned $17 billion in three-month bills at a discount rate of 4.960 percent, down from 4.975 percent last week. An additional $16 billion in six-month bills was auctioned at a discount rate of 4.970 percent, down from 4.975 percent last week. Separately, the Federal Reserve said Monday that the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, a popular index for making changes in adjustable-rate mortgages Adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) A mortgage that features predetermined adjustments of the loan interest rate at regular intervals based on an established index. The interest rate is adjusted at each interval to a rate equivalent to the index value plus a predetermined spread, or , fell to 5.07 percent last week, down from 5.10 percent the previous week. Dell, Apple set for safety forum DALLAS -- Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., which recalled nearly 6 million notebook batteries between them this month, are among PC makers planning to meet next month to discuss setting design and safety standards Safety standards are standards designed to ensure the safety of products, activities or processes, etc. They may be advisory or compulsory and are normally laid down by an advisory or regulatory body that may be either voluntary or statutory. for lithium-ion batteries used in portable electronic devices. The batteries were blamed in rare fires that prompted this month's recalls, the largest electronic recalls involving federal product-safety officials. Dell and Apple belong to an electronics-industry trade group that sets standards for many electronics components. The group's critical-parts committee will meet Sept. 13 in San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. . Sony Corp., which made the recalled batteries, has not indicated whether it will attend. |
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