industries

In 2010, semiconductors brought in record revenue of $298.3 billion worldwide, a jump of 31.8 percent compared with the previous year, according to data out yesterday from the Semiconductor Industry Association.

In addition, chip sales in December hit $25.2 billion, a gain of 12.2 percent compared with 2009's final month. Fourth-quarter revenue grew the same percentage from the year-ago quarter to reach $75.5 billion.

"Semiconductor sales are a bright spot in our current economic picture, delivering a record high in the billions," SIA President Brian Toohey said in a statement. "The … Read more

The U.S. Senate judiciary committee will take another crack at arming the government with broad antipiracy powers.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the judiciary committee's chairman, said today that the government must take action against "online criminals" who harm American jobs by obtaining the nation's intellectual property without paying for it. Leahy made the statements as he laid out the committee's agenda for this session of Congress.

In September, Leahy introduced legislation called the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which could boast bipartisan support and unanimously passed in the judiciary committee, but failed to … Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided that a lawsuit, filed by a group of online music buyers who allege the four largest record companies conspired nearly a decade ago to fix prices of songs sold online, can now move forward.

The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by the labels--Universal Music Group (UMG), Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI Group--to block the suit, according to reports by Bloomberg and Reuters. Instead, the decision by a federal appeals court that the plaintiffs had supplied enough evidence to sue the labels will stand.

The lawsuit by … Read more

Last month marked the second anniversary since the Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group representing the four largest music labels, stopped filing copyright lawsuits against people suspected of illegal file sharing.

At the time, the RIAA said it would seek help in copyright enforcement efforts from Internet service providers, the Web's gatekeepers, which are uniquely positioned to act as copyright cops. Under a proposed RIAA plan, ISPs would first issue warning letters and gradually increase pressure on customers who illegally shared songs, and even suspend or permanently terminate service for repeat offenders. RIAA execs said then that … Read more

Chip sales have been a lot healthier lately than they were amid the downturn of 2009.

Semiconductor sales around the world hit $26 billion in November, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). Though that's a slight decline of 0.9 percent from October, it's a hefty increase of 14.4 percent from November 2009 when sales were $22.7 billion.

For the entire year through November, sales jumped 34 percent to reach $271.8 billion, up from $202.8 billion for the same period in 2009.

"Despite continuing macroeconomic uncertainty, the semiconductor industry is slated to … Read more

Honda Aircraft this week is one more step closer to making HondaJet a reality. The company, which plans to deliver light business aircraft in 2012, completed an FAA-conforming flight.

The nearly one-hour test flight took place on Monday from the company's Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C.

The HondaJet has already undergone a number of FAA structural tests and will have to pass on additional structural test and another flight test to be certified. The company plans to take HondaJet into full production at its Greensboro plant.

"We are very encouraged by our initial review of … Read more

MasterCard, is willing to stop processing transactions from sites trafficking in pirated music, movies, games, and other digital copyrighted content.

Lobbyists working for MasterCard have told trade groups from the entertainment sector that the credit card company is supportive of The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, an antipiracy bill introduced into the Senate last September, sources with knowledge of the talks tell CNET.

Backed by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and committee member Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah), the bill would authorize the Department of Justice to shut down domain names of U.S.-based … Read more

Akamai managers say they could have bolstered the Web sites that buckled under attacks launched recently by Internet vigilantes.

The world's largest content delivery network says it has enough servers and the right kind of network to "mitigate distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks," Neil Cohen, Akamai's senior director of product marketing told CNET. DDoS describes the practice of overwhelming a Web site with traffic so that it can't be accessed.

Some well-known sites were the targets of DDoS attacks launched by a loosely connected group of WikiLeaks supporters who call themselves Anonymous or Anon for short. … Read more

Lawyers representing independent filmmakers, including the studio that produced Oscar-winner "The Hurt Locker," might learn something from a document filed with the U.S. Department of Commerce today by music, television, and film industry trade groups.

The Commerce Department recently sent out a request for information, known as a "Notice of Information," on "copyright policy, creativity, and innovation in the Internet economy." What the Commerce Department intends to do with the information it obtains was unclear this afternoon, but it did receive a response from nine trade groups representing the entertainment sector. In that … Read more