LucasArts Entertainment’s Star Wars: Battlefront for PS2 was the top-rented videogame in the U.S. for the 2nd consecutive week, Rentrak’s preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Oct. 3 showed. Rentrak said the PS2 SKU earned an additional $391,187 in its 2nd week, for $809,356 to date. The Xbox version of the game was #4 again, earning an additional $263,516, for $568,389 to date. Activision also had 2 SKUs in the top 10: X- Men: Legends on PS2 at #7 (up 17 in its 2nd week, $242,568 in the week and $322,505 to date) and Spider-Man 2 on PS2 at #10 (down one in its 14th week, $179,533 and $6.46 million). But Electronic Arts (EA) again dominated the top 10, with 5 titles: Def Jam: Fight for NY on PS2 at #2 again in its 2nd week ($361,956 and $707,535), Madden NFL 2005 on PS2 at #3 again in its 8th week ($331,311 and $3.33 million), Burnout 3 on PS2 at #6 (down one in its 4th week, $249,872 and $988,316), NCAA Football 2005 on PS2 at #8 (down one in its 12th week, $217,850 and $3.38 million) and Def Jam on Xbox at #9 (down one, $213,529 and $409,682). Rounding out the top 10 was Microsoft’s Fable on Xbox at #5 (up one, $263,007 and $675,118).

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of the antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Taiwan for the period of May 1, 2002 to April 30, 2003.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its preliminary results of the antidumping (AD) duty changed circumstances review of softwood lumber from Canada regarding the appropriate cash deposit rate for the Canfor Corporation (Canfor), which merged with Slocan Forest Products Ltd. (Slocan) as of April 1, 2004.

In a major departure from its core CE business, Best Buy is preparing a health, wellness and beauty store in Richfield, Minn. The company hopes to open the test store in early 2005 under the EQ-Life banner, an EQ-Life spokeswoman said. The 18,000-sq.-ft. store, which will be located in a shopping center, will merchandise personal care and exercise products, nutritional supplements along with related CE gear such as digital audio players and exercise VHS and DVD titles.

The ITA states that until completion of the review, it will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to allow, at the option of the importer, the posting of a bond or security in lieu of an AD cash deposit for entries of the subject merchandise both produced and exported from India by Hilton.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has initiated an antidumping (AD) duty investigation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) from Taiwan.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has made preliminary affirmative antidumping (AD) duty determinations that certain circular welded carbon-quality line pipe from Korea and Mexico is being, or is likely to be, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value.

German competitive telecom carriers criticized their telecom regulator RegTP for walking away from the ex ante price control imposed on Deutsche Telecom’s (DT) voice telephony service. In a briefing paper to the U.S. govt., the German Competitive Carriers Assn. (VATM) said RegTP was “mainly responsible” for the regulatory uncertainty in Germany because it “failed to advise industry timely on the price review and control standards that it applies to its rulings, after the new [Telecom] Act entered into force.” VATM expressed concern that RegTP used a “singular [administrative court in Cologne] decision in preliminary injunction proceeding to shift its general policy on price control -- outside of any formal rulemaking.” Without conducting public consultations or hearings, RegTP had indicated it would no longer review DT’s price ex ante, but only after the fact. “Price control by a regulator after the incumbent’s offer hits the market usually comes too late -- the damage is already done,” said Axel Spies, a Washington attorney representing VATM.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the antidumping (AD) duty new shipper review of fresh garlic from China for the period of November 1, 2002 through October 31, 2003.

The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the changed circumstances antidumping (AD) duty review of fresh garlic from China, concluding that Heze Ever-Best International Trade Co., Ltd. (Heze Ever-Best), is the successor-in-interest to Shandong Heze International Trade and Developing Company (Shandong Heze) and, as such, entries of its merchandise are entitled to Shandong Heze's AD cash-deposit rate.