The PS2 version of The Godfather from Electronic Arts, in its 2nd week available, was again the #1-rented videogame in the U.S., according to Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended April 2. The Xbox version was again #2. The only new game in the top 10 was Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts II for PS2 at #7.

GENEVA -- ITU-T members established an IPTV focus group Wed., with the aim of coordinating a broad range of standards development work into a global standard, officials said. Standards bodies from the existing TV and video markets are creating standards for IPTV, but are focusing on -- and coming from -- their industry perspectives, officials said. What hasn’t been identified is a coordinated framework that says this is how IPTV works, this is the boundary of IPTV and these are the ways IPTV can be coordinated and managed as a service, they said.

Fax “store and forward” technologies are the subject of a patent infringement suit by IP development and licensing firm Catch Curve against French firm Esker in U.S. Dist. Court, Atlanta. The plaintiff said Esker violated Catch Curve’s AudioFax patents, which cover fax-to-e-mail, fax broadcasting, fax-on-demand and “real time” fax over the Internet. Catch Curve wants monetary damages for past infringement and preliminary and permanent injunctions. Esker, which has a U.S. subsidiary, sued Catch Curve days before in U.S. Dist. Court, Madison, Wis., after licensing talks broke down; Catch Curve portrayed its suit as a defensive measure. More than 1/3 of Esker fiscal year 2004 sales involve products and services related to the AudioFax patents, and more than half of Esker’s sales were in the U.S., Catch Curve said. Its patents have been licensed to companies such as AT&T, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, NEC, Send2Fax and Siemens, it said.

Blockbuster declined comment Wed. on a Netflix suit accusing its rival of violating basic patents on the online ordering and delivery of DVDs. A Blockbuster spokesman said his company hasn’t had an opportunity to review the suit, which Netflix filed Tues. in U.S. Dist. Court, San Francisco.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated an antidumping (AD) duty investigation of certain activated carbon from China, in order to determine whether imports of subject merchandise are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

SpaceX botched its maiden satellite launch last month, but the firm still is angling to become “the Southwest Airlines” of the satellite launching industry, CEO Elon Musk told the National Space Symposium Wed. Company engineers’ preliminary analyses suggest the fire that wrecked Falcon 1 in March stemmed from a “pad processing error” 24 hours before launch, Musk said: “The error was made by our most experienced pad technician. It goes to show that even the best people make mistakes.” Despite the crash, Falcon 1’s big brother, Falcon 9, will make its maiden voyage at the end of 2008, Musk said: “Falcon 9 has the same engines, the same basic structural design, the same avionics and the same ground support experience. Every mistake on Falcon 1 is learned on Falcon 9,” Musk said. Musk announced a new Falcon 9 launch contract from MDA Corp. of Canada, set for 2008.

Mediacom’s sales rose 8.7% last quarter to $289.3 million as it added customers for all services except basic cable, said an SEC filing, citing preliminary figures. Cash flow rose at a similar rate, though the firm didn’t disclose whether it had a Q1 loss or profit. Broadband subscribers rose 24% from a year ago, to 504,000, though Mediacom lost 39,000 cable subscribers. There were 46,000 phone subscribers on March 31 as the firm started selling VoIP. There were “very strong data and VoIP adds,” wrote Banc of America analyst Douglas Shapiro. Separately, Moody’s gave a Mediacom loan a Ba3 rating, citing increased debt costs.

On March 10, 2006, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the European Union (EU) Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development signed a bilateral agreement on wine-making practices, the labeling of wine, etc. (March 2006 wine agreement).

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the preliminary results of its antidumping (AD) duty changed circumstances review of certain forged stainless steel flanges from India.

Lead managers handling the sale of Daewoo Electronics will receive preliminary bids for the CE and appliance maker April 5-20, in a deal reportedly worth up to $1 billion. A Chinese appliance manufacturer and India’s Videocon are expected to submit bids. Potential bidders must submit letters and confidentiality agreements to lead managers ABM Amro, Woori Investment & Securities and Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers by the deadline, according to an ad in the Korea Economic Daily on Tues. Domestic creditors, which own 97% of Daewoo, are seeking to have final agreement in place by Sept., Reuters reported, quoting sources. They aim to sign a final contract by the end of September, a source at a creditor bank said on Tues. S. Korean lenders are selling stakes in once-troubled companies that they bailed out in the aftermath of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. Daewoo Electronics was placed under debt rescheduling led by creditors along with its affiliates after the parent group went bankrupt in 1999, carrying $80 billion in debt. The company swung to a $96.9 million net loss in 2005 from a $31.5 million net profit in 2004, Daewoo said, as a stronger won put pressure on its export-led business. Sales totaled $2.24 billion in 2005. It had $1.71 billion in assets at the end of 2005, including 6 plants in S. Korea and 18 overseas.