Take-Two Interactive “reached an agreement in principle” to retain, for 3 years, key employees at its Rockstar game studio responsible for the hit Grand Theft Auto series, the company disclosed in its 10-K filing at the SEC. But Take- Two said the “compensation arrangements could result in increased expenses and have a negative impact on our operating results.” Undisclosed in the 10-K were the agreement terms, the identity of employees affected or when the costs might impact Take-Two’s financial results.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has made a preliminary affirmative antidumping (AD) duty determination that metal calendar slides from Japan are being, or are likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value. The period of investigation for subject merchandise from Japan is April 1, 2004 through March 31, 2005.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated new shipper reviews for the antidumping (AD) duty order on honey from China with respect to the following companies, as both the exporter and producer, and review period:

Verizon Wireless won a preliminary injunction against the owners of LocateCell.com this week that prevents them from getting information about Verizon customers or operating any site that uses Verizon information. Calling the order “quite far reaching in the prohibitions that it imposes,” Verizon Vp-Legal & External Affairs Steve Zipperstein called the action much stronger than other injunctions in similar wireless industry cases. Subscriber information security has been a major issue with all wireless carriers (CD Jan 30 p5).

W3C members reached preliminary agreement on best practices for mobile Web content, the group announced Tues. The group -- consisting of mobile players like AOL, AT&T, Ericsson, France Telecom, Google, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, OpenWave Systems, Vodafone -- drafted Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, an industry guideline for Web-enabled mobile devices. The group invited comments on the draft before Feb. 17 and plans to make the agreement a focus of the W3C World Congress in Barcelona Feb. 14-16.

W3C members reached preliminary agreement on best practices for mobile Web content, the group announced Tues. The group -- consisting of mobile players like AOL, AT&T, Ericsson, France Telecom, Google, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, OpenWave Systems, Vodafone -- drafted Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, an industry guideline for Web-enabled mobile devices. The group invited comments on the draft before Feb. 17 and plans to make the agreement a focus of the W3C World Congress in Barcelona Feb. 14-16.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated a new shipper review for the antidumping (AD) duty order on carbazole violet pigment 23 from India with respect to the following exporter/producer and review period:

Video technology company Focus Enhancements said it received $10 million in funding from the sale of convertible notes to private investors. CEO Brett Moyer said the money “will enable us to complete” the development of Talaria Ultra Wideband technology and “fund general operating requirements to support our expected revenue growth of over 30% in 2006.” The growth “will be driven by the introduction of multiple new products as well as new and expanding customer relationships in our Semiconductor and Systems Businesses,” Moyer said. The company also announced preliminary results for its 4th quarter ended Dec. 31, saying it expects to report sales of about $6 million -- lower than the $7.5 million it previously estimated. But Focus said it expects to post a loss of only about 5 cents per share instead of the 6-7 cents previously estimated. Moyer said “timing issues impacted shipments of a new HD FireStore product for one of our key Systems Business partners” in the quarter. He also said the company’s semiconductor business is less dependent on one major customer now, noting that the FS454 semiconductor chip used mainly in Microsoft’s first Xbox console represented about 10% of its total revenue of $20 million in fiscal 2004 and 54% of its semiconductor revenue. The company said Microsoft “ceased placing significant orders for the FS454” and Focus “significantly diversified its customer base” since then. Focus also said it expects first half 2006 revenue to grow in semiconductors thanks to “increased sales of chips for Personal Media Players (PMP), resulting from our strong showing” at CES early this month, where its FS45X series of video processors were displayed in products from 121 manufacturers including Toshiba’s Gigabeat and DigiCube’s I-Station. The company also expects its Systems Business to be boosted by sales of its FireStore product line as it starts shipping 2 new HD FireStore products: The DR-HD100 to JVC and the FS-100 to Panasonic for use in their new HD camcorders.

VeriSign gave ICANN a “last, best offer” to settle a suit over the .com domain. Changes proposed to the pact were posted for public comment Sun., after a private conference call last week involving ICANN board members and staff and Verisign representatives (WID Jan 24 p8). The proposal shows significant changes from an Oct. version that irked some in the industry who said it raised antitrust concerns and expanded VeriSign’s preeminence in the space (WID Nov 30 p1). The debate sparked a hue and cry at ICANN’s year-end meeting in Vancouver, as well as lawsuits, Congressional attention and gripes to the Justice and Commerce Depts.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated a new shipper review for the antidumping (AD) duty order on honey from Argentina with respect to the following exporter/producer combination and review period: