Corporate & legal

Update at 2:09 p.m. PDT, with additional information from earnings report.

Research In Motion on Thursday posted a stronger-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter, with revenue climbing 84 percent over the same period a year ago.

RIM, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphones, reported revenue of $3.46 billion, up from $1.88 billion a year ago. Wall Street had expected the company to report $3.4 billion in revenue, according to Thomson Financial.

Net income jumped nearly 26 percent to $518.3 million, or 90 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with $412.5 million, … Read more

IBM has reportedly cut its purchase price for Sun Microsystems to a range of $9 to $10 a share. And Sun is apparently willing to accept the lower range providing IBM agrees to pursue the deal, even in the face of antitrust scrutiny, according to a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

Previously, IBM was contemplating a buyout price of $10 to $11 a share, according to the Journal. Big Blue had recently been delving into Sun Microsystems' contracts for any possible conflicts, as part of its due diligence on the company.

Sun Microsystems stock spiked 6.25 percent … Read more

Qwest Communications International is reportedly seeking a buyer for its long-distance carrier business, as the company searches for ways to lower its outstanding debt load, according to a report Thursday in The Wall Street Journal.

Qwest, a struggling telecommunications carrier that ranks third in the nation, is reportedly hoping to raise $2 billion to $3 billion through the sale of its long-distance carrier business, according to the story which cited sources familiar with the matter.

That would pare down the footprint of the Denver-based telecommunications company, leaving it as a regional telecommunications player.

But such a sale could help offset … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The new 4G wireless broadband network that Verizon Wireless plans to launch in 2010 could be rural America's answer to its broadband access prayers. But extending the network to every nook and cranny in the U.S. will likely take years.

Tony Melone, senior vice president and chief technology officer for Verizon Wireless, said during an interview at the CTIA Wireless 2009 tradeshow here Wednesday that the new 4G network that the company is building will blanket the entire continental United States, including the far corners of rural America.

"The licenses we bought in the 700MHz auction … Read more

As part of its bid to restructure its liquid crystal display business, Toshiba will buy out partner Panasonic's share in the Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., the two companies announced Wednesday.

Toshiba already owned 60 percent of the company, compared with Panasonic's 40 percent, and the resulting buyout will cost Toshiba about 2 billion yen or about $20 million, a Toshiba spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal. The deal is scheduled to be completed by April 28, when the name of the company will be changed to Toshiba Mobile Display.

The company, established jointly in 2002, currently produces … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Wireless industry executives at the CTIA Wireless 2009 trade show here say that despite the economic meltdown, the cell phone industry remains strong. And they're confident that it will be a driving force in pulling the nation out of the current financial crisis.

Verizon Communications CEO Ivan Seidenberg and Robert Dotson, CEO of T-Mobile USA, which is owned by Deutsche Telekom, took the stage on Wednesday, the opening day of the trade show, with a similar message.

These executives said that despite the economic troubles facing the nation and the world, the wireless market is thriving and innovation … Read more

The same day a new antipiracy law went into effect in Sweden, Internet traffic took a dive and five audio book publishers went after an alleged illegal file sharer in court.

The so-called IPRED law, which went into effect Wednesday, requires Internet service providers to reveal subscribers' Internet Protocol addresses to copyright holders in cases where a court finds ample evidence of illegal activity.

As of 2 p.m. local time Wednesday in Sweden, Internet traffic was down about 30 percent from the day … Read more

Two U.S. senators introduced legislation on Wednesday that calls for naming a national cybersecurity adviser who reports directly to the president and who would have the authority to disconnect federal or critical infrastructure networks from the Internet if they were deemed to be at risk of attack.

This proposed legislation comes amid a review ordered by the Obama administration into the government's policies for defending itself against cyberattacks and follows the resignation of Rod Beckström as director of Homeland Security's National Cybersecurity Center in response to what he said was a power grab by the … Read more

Google has settled a lawsuit filed by advertisers who claimed they were charged for more ads through the AdWords system than they had agreed to pay for.

Under the settlement, two named plaintiffs will each receive $20,000, other marketers will get ad credits and Google agreed to pay the plaintiffs' lawyers more than $5 million, according to MediaPost.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005 in Santa Clara Superior Court in California, named as plaintiffs printing company CLRB Hanson Industries of Minnesota and Howard Stern of New Jersey (no relation to the radio personality). It alleged that Google misrepresented what constitutes … Read more