BUSINESS NOTES CHEAP TICKETS WILL CLOSE STORES.

Byline: - From staff and wire services

Honolulu-based Cheap Tickets Inc. on Thursday announced it will close its stores in Los Angeles, Fullerton and Burbank by Aug. 16.

The company also will shutter its travel store network in Hawaii and Washington to shift resources to its call center and Internet channels, which account for about 98 percent of Cheap Tickets' sales.

Cheap Tickets, created in 1986, said it will maintain its original travel kiosk in Honolulu because of its highly visible location across from the Hawaii Convention Center.

NetZero cuts back on free service

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - NetZero Inc., one of the few remaining providers of free Internet access, is slashing staff, selling a subsidiary and reducing its free service to save money, company officials said Thursday.

In another sign that its business model isn't working, the Westlake Village-based company has eliminated 66 positions and will reduce the number of free hours available to basic service customers from 40 to 10 a month, effective Oct. 1.

It also sold subsidiary RocketCash, an e-commerce company best known for its partnership with the Sprite soda brand. RocketCash has 27 employees and costs NetZero several million dollars a year to operate.

Court backs ruling on Internet use

NEW YORK - A federal court has thrown out a challenge from the broadcasting industry against the U.S. Copyright Office, which ruled late last year that radio stations must pay extra royalties to broadcast over the Internet.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday, the U.S. District Court for eastern Pennsylvania dismissed the case brought by the National Association of Broadcasters, which represents radio stations as well as television broadcasters.

The NAB had argued that radio stations shouldn't have to pay the extra fees and that the Copyright Office had exceeded its authority in making the ruling.

Court reaffirms Microsoft ruling

WASHINGTON - An appeals court reaffirmed on Thursday that Microsoft illegally mixed its Windows operating system with its Web browser.

The software giant is still considering a Supreme Court challenge in the four-year antitrust case. Legal experts, however, suggested that would be futile.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia denied Microsoft's request for a rehearing in a brief order, clearing the way for the case to be sent back to a lower court to decide Microsoft's penalty for being an illegal monopoly.

In its June order, the appeals court decided that Microsoft illegally commingled software code for the two flagship products in an attempt to stunt competition and keep consumers from using one without the other. Microsoft asked the court to reconsider.