Communications and technology PACs gave $2 million to Democratic candidates in the first half of 2007, compared with $1.5 million to Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records compiled by Political Moneyline. The industry is the fourth largest contributor among corporate PACs for the 2007-08 election cycle, its $3.6 million slightly behind the No. 1-ranked agriculture sector at $3.9 million. It’s a position likely not to change, as communications has held the No. 4 spot since the early 1990s.

Communications and technology PACs gave $2 million to Democratic candidates in the first half of 2007, compared with $1.5 million to Republicans, according to Federal Election Commission records compiled by Political Moneyline. The industry is the fourth largest contributor among corporate PACs for the 2007-08 election cycle, its $3.6 million slightly behind the No. 1-ranked agriculture sector at $3.9 million. It’s a position likely not to change, as communications has held the No. 4 spot since the early 1990s.

Epic Games filed a countersuit against developer Silicon Knights in U.S. District Court, Raleigh, N.C., disputing the allegations Silicon made in a breach of contract suit filed July 18. Silicon accused Epic of making “false and misleading” statements in licensing Silicon to use Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 technology to develop games. Epic “violated” the deal by “failing to provide a working game engine,” which caused Silicon to experience “considerable losses” and forced it to spend its minimal time and resources to build its own engine instead of developing a planned game, Silicon claimed. Silicon also accused Epic of “unfair competition,” claiming Epic “intentionally and wrongfully” used licensing fees collected for the engine “to launch its own game” -- Gears of War -- “to widespread commercial success while simultaneously sabotaging efforts” by Silicon and others to develop their own games. Silicon requested a jury trial, unspecified damages, for the deal with Epic to be “rescinded” or changed so that Silicon didn’t have to use the Unreal engine exclusively or at all, for a permanent injunction against Epic to prevent it from further “unfair” business practices against Silicon, and for Epic to give up any profits from Gears of War. But Epic Wednesday accused Silicon of misappropriating Epic’s licensed technology and claimed Silicon’s suit “lacks factual or legal merit” and is merely part of Silicon’s overall misappropriation plan. Epic complained Silicon wants to use Epic’s technology, “pay nothing for it and use it any way it pleases.” Epic requested compensatory damages “in excess of” $650,000, as well as unspecified punitive damages and legal fees. It also asked for preliminary and permanent injunctions against Silicon and an order that all infringing games, code and other articles from Silicon “be destroyed.”

The International Trade Administration has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping and countervailing duty administrative reviews:

The International Trade Administration has issued a notice stating that it is postponing its preliminary countervailing duty determination on circular welded carbon quality steel pipe from China to November 5, 2007 (from August 31, 2007).

Time Warner Cable settled a lawsuit against DirecTV (CD Feb 7 p11) alleging that the satellite provider’s ads touting the superiority of its HD service to cable’s were misleading, the companies said. A Time Warner Cable spokesman said the settlement came several weeks before a ruling Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturning a district judge’s preliminary order that DirecTV stop airing televised ads featuring Jessica Simpson and William Shatner, because they seemed misleading. In banner ads on various websites, DirecTV displayed a clear picture from its service next to highly pixelated video labeled as coming from another TV provider. The court agreed with DirecTV’s argument that no one would believe that the pixelated image was genuine. “It is difficult to imagine that any consumer, whatever the level of sophistication, would actually be fooled by the Internet advertisements into thinking that cable’s picture quality is so poor that the image is ‘nearly entirely obscured,'” wrote Judge Chester Straub. Judges Amalya Kearse and Rosemary Pooler agreed. “The Internet advertisements’ depictions of cable are not just inaccurate, they are not even remotely realistic.” DirecTV and Time Warner Cable officials said their settlement made the ruling moot. They wouldn’t disclose the terms. - JM

The International Trade Administration frequently issues notices on antidumping and countervailing duty orders which Broker Power considers to be "minor" in importance as they concern actions that occur after an order is issued and neither announce nor cause any changes to an order's duty rates, scope, affected firms, or effective period.

Time Warner Cable settled a lawsuit against DirecTV alleging that the satellite provider’s ads touting the superiority of its HD service to cable’s were misleading, the companies said. A Time Warner Cable spokesman said the settlement came several weeks before a ruling Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upholding a district judge’s preliminary order that DirecTV stop airing televised ads featuring Jessica Simpson and William Shatner, because they seemed misleading. In banner ads on various websites, DirecTV displayed a clear picture from its service next to highly pixelated video labeled as coming from another TV provider. The court agreed with DirecTV’s argument that no one would believe that the pixelated image was genuine, and disagreed with the lower court. “It is difficult to imagine that any consumer, whatever the level of sophistication, would actually be fooled by the Internet advertisements into thinking that cable’s picture quality is so poor that the image is ‘nearly entirely obscured,'” wrote Judge Chester Straub. Judges Amalya Kearse and Rosemary Pooler agreed. “The Internet advertisements’ depictions of cable are not just inaccurate, they are not even remotely realistic.” DirecTV and Time Warner Cable officials said their settlement made the ruling moot. They wouldn’t disclose the terms. - JM

Time Warner Cable settled a lawsuit against DirecTV alleging that the satellite provider’s Internet ads touting the superiority of its HD service to cable’s were misleading, the companies said. A Time Warner Cable spokesman said the settlement came several weeks before a ruling Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upholding a district judge’s preliminary order that DirecTV stop airing televised ads featuring Jessica Simpson and William Shatner, because they seemed misleading. In banner ads on various websites, DirecTV displayed a clear picture from its service next to highly pixelated video labeled as coming from another TV provider. The court agreed with DirecTV’s argument that no one would believe that the pixelated image was genuine, and disagreed with the lower court. “It is difficult to imagine that any consumer, whatever the level of sophistication, would actually be fooled by the Internet advertisements into thinking that cable’s picture quality is so poor that the image is ‘nearly entirely obscured,'” wrote Judge Chester Straub. Judges Amalya Kearse and Rosemary Pooler agreed. “The Internet advertisements’ depictions of cable are not just inaccurate, they are not even remotely realistic.” DirecTV and Time Warner Cable officials said their settlement made the ruling moot. They wouldn’t disclose the terms. - JM

The International Trade Administration has issued its preliminary results of the following antidumping duty administrative and new shipper reviews: