Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PS2, in its 12th week, was again the top- rented videogame in the U.S., Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 16 showed. Rentrak said the game earned an additional $453,880 in the week, for a total of $10.61 million to date. The only new game in the top 10 was LucasArts Entertainment’s Mercenaries for PS2 at #7 ($122,787). Need for Speed Underground 2 from Electronic Arts (EA) for PS2, in its 9th week, was again #2 ($254,383 in the week, $3.29 million to date), while Microsoft’s Halo 2 for Xbox, in its 10th week, was again #3 ($160,004 and $4.36 million), the Xbox version of Need was again #4 ($149,615 and $2.04 million), Activision’s Call of Duty: Finest Hour for PS2, in its 9th week, was again #5 ($144,596 and $1.79 million) and EA’s NFL Street 2 for PS2, in its 4th week, was again #6 ($127,814 and $399,559). Rounding out the top 10 were 3 more PS2 games, each in its 11th week: Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater up 2 at #8 ($105,773 and $1.46 million), THQ’s WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw down 2 at #9 ($104,614 and $2.05 million) and Sony Computer Entertainment’s Killzone up 3 at #10 ($102,826 and $1.54 million).
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has issued a notice announcing the results of the preliminary review of certain petitions it received in connection with its 2004 Andean Trade Preference Act (ATPA) annual review, as well as the status of 2003 petitions that have remained under review.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued its final results of the changed circumstances review of the AD duty order on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Japan. In these final results, the ITA has determined to revoke in part the AD duty order on certain corrosion-resistant carbon steel flat products from Japan with respect to nickel-plated steel foil, effective January 14, 2005.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the preliminary results of the following antidumping (AD) duty administrative reviews:
Take-Two Interactive’s Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for PS2 was again the top-rented videogame in the U.S., Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 9 showed. The title, in its 11th week, earned an additional $465,292, for $10.16 million to date. Need for Speed Underground 2 from Electronic Arts (EA) for PS2 was, in its 8th week, again #2 (an additional $253,569 and $3.03 million), while Microsoft’s Xbox sequel Halo 2, in its 9th week, was again #3 ($177,922 and $4.20 million), the Xbox version of Need was again #4 ($138,008 and $1.89 million) and Activision’s Call of Duty: Finest Hour for PS2, in its 8th week, was again #5 ($131,052 and $1.64 million). EA had 2 other PS2 games in the top 10: NFL Street 2 at #6 (up 5 in its 3rd week, $126,745 and $271,745) and Madden NFL 2005 at #8 (up 6 in its 22nd week, $104,150 and $5.57 million). Rounding out the top 10 were THQ’s WWE Smackdown! Vs. Raw at #7 (up 5 in its 10th week, $109,998 and $1.94 million), Atari’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 for PS2 at #9 (down one in its 7th week, $103,476 and $1.36 million) and Konami’s Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater at #10 (down one in its 10th week, $98,684 and $1.35 million).
Warner Home Video’s Troy was the top-rented DVD in the U.S. during its first week available, Rentrak said its preliminary Home Video Essentials data for the week ended Jan. 9 showed. The title earned $10.3 million in its first week on DVD. Universal Home Entertainment’s comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy -- last week’s #1 DVD -- dropped to #2 in its 2nd week, earning an additional $5.62 million, for $13.96 million to date. Also seeing strong rentals in their first week were Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment’s comedy Little Black Book at #6 ($4.22 million on DVD) and New Line Home Entertainment’s comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at #8 ($3.92 million).
Just a day after his investor group lost out to Movie Gallery in its Hollywood Entertainment buyout bid, Hollywood CEO Mark Wattles on Tues. bought a majority of financially ailing Ultimate Electronics and became its chmn., it was disclosed Wed. in an SEC filing. The same day, Ultimate also filed for Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Del.
The International Trade Administration (ITA) has issued the final results of its antidumping (AD) duty administrative review of certain stainless steel butt-weld pipe fittings from Taiwan for the period of June 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003.
U.S. Dist. Court Judge Donetta Ambrose set March 3 for a preliminary hearing in the SightSound Technologies v. Napster case, in which SightSound alleges Napster reneged at “the 11th hour” on a licensing agreement for digital music distribution. SightSound settled a patent- infringement case favorably last Feb. with N2K and CDNow, recognizing 3 patents at issue with Napster as “valid and enforceable.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has announced that the 2005 low-duty tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)/Mexico peanuts provided for in HTS Chapter 99, Subchapter VI, U.S. Note 16, which opened on Monday, January 3, 2005, did not oversubscribe at the opening. Therefore, all entries presented at opening have been charged and may be released. (See ITT's Online Archives or 12/22/04 news, 04122235 2, for BP summary on CBP's notice announcing this 2005 TRQ.) (QBT-05-501, dated 01/06/05, available at http://www.cbp.gov/linkhandler/cgov/import/textiles_and_quotas/qbts/qbt2005/05_501.ctt/05_501.doc)