* Cyber piracy--registering a company’s name as...
* Cyber piracy--registering a company’s name as your own Internet domain name, then trying to sell it back to the company--violates trademark laws, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. The court upheld a lower court order against an Illinois man who registered a Web site as panavision.com, then offered to relinquish it to Los Angeles-based Panavision International, a movie camera equipment company, for $13,000.
* IXC Communications activated its new digital fiber-optic network linking Los Angeles and New York. Austin, Texas-based IXC said the network will be used for voice and data communications, including advanced networking technologies such as frame relay. The company said it is the first new coast-to-coast fiber-optic network in a decade.
* Monsanto Co. said it asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to postpone for three years a ruling on whether genetically altered crops can qualify as organic products. Monsanto argued in a letter to the USDA that making a decision based on the relatively few bioengineered crops currently on the market would be premature.
* CoreStates Financial Corp. agreed to pay $1.5 million to correct a pay inequity pattern against women and minorities that Labor Secretary Alexis Herman said is widespread at financial institutions. The Labor Department said its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs found that the Philadelphia-based bank discriminated against female and minority managers and professionals by failing to apply its compensation policies equitably.
* A Malaysian company will take a 40% stake in Laura Ashley Holdings, the struggling British clothing and furniture retailer said, as it announced a loss for 1997 and warned of continuing problems. The company said Malayan United Industries will acquire 159.2 million new shares in the company, giving it about $40 million to restructure its troubled North American operations.
