SAP admits 'inappropriate' Oracle downloads
But SAP, the world's largest maker of business software, denied using the information for commercial gain.

Closed Russian music site seems to resurface
The old site, www.allofmp3.com, has been succeeded by www.mp3sparks.com, complete with a similar design, legal disclaimers and a Moscow phone number.

Makers of the iPhone's newly revealed components saw their shares surge
Intel, Broadcom, Texas Instruments and other makers of iPhone components - some of them little known until the product went on sale Friday - quickly got a lift on the stock market.

Yahoo moves to catch up with Google in tailored advertising
Yahoo SmartAds would help marketers create custom advertisements on the fly, using information on individual buyers and information on real prices and availability from the vendors.

Virgin Media retains Goldman Sachs to help study takeover proposal
The British cable company, whose largest investor is Richard Branson, said Monday that it had received a takeover proposal. The Carlyle Group is preparing a bid worth about $20 billion.

Open-source evolves from 'nerdy' to notable
As the open-source movement completes its first decade, the fast-growing industry has gone from nerdy novelty to recognized market niche while attracting the double-edged attention of its biggest rivals.

Le Monde has new chief executive, but dispute over chairman is unsolved
The French newspaper Le Monde named a new chief executive on Monday but has not resolved a dispute that has pitted journalists against the paper's chairman, who the journalists say is too close to President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In meeting with French unions, Sarkozy pledges talks on EU technology sector
The French president told union representatives that he would meet executives from Alcatel-Lucent and France Télécom to discuss the future of telecommunications industry in Europe.

A past Murdoch opponent re-emerges as a rival for Dow Jones
Brad Greenspan, once chief executive of MySpace's parent company, resisted its takeover by Murdoch's News Corp.

British media organizations look to U.S. market and beyond
With Americans seemingly developing a taste for news with a Fleet Street twist, British papers are stepping up their efforts to court American readers and advertisers, expanding their coverage of U.S. politics and culture.

Sales of iPhones beat analysts' expectations
Several analysts said Monday that sales of the new Apple device had been significantly higher than they had expected, suggesting the company would reach its goal of making mobile phones as profitable as its computers and the iPod.
- Universal in dispute with Apple over iTunes

Russia finally ready for 3G
The government recently issued licenses to Mobile TeleSystems and its two biggest rivals, VimpelCom and MegaFon, to operate so-called 3G mobile services

Can Susan Decker fire up Yahoo as its new president?
Despite industry plaudits, she faces a major challenge as the company works to emerge from the shadow of Google.

The European Commission said Tuesday it had asked several Hollywood studios to explain why they had chosen either the Blu-ray or HD DVD high-definition format for movie discs to see if they were breaking EU rules that bar companies from shutting out rivals.

The Sony-backed Blu-ray format has won strong support from Hollywood. Walt Disney, News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures have released discs on Blu-ray but not the competing HD DVD format, developed by a consortium led by Toshiba.

General Electric's Universal Studios releases high-definition movies exclusively on HD DVD - the only major studio to do so.

A commission spokesman, Jonathan Todd, said regulators were only seeking information on how studios chose the technology format for their film releases and had not accused them of violating antitrust law.

European Union regulators will decide whether Microsoft has complied with a 2004 antitrust order after a court rules on its appeal in September, the EU antitrust chief said.

The European competition commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has threatened to levy millions in additional fines against Microsoft for failing to comply with an order to license information to competitors on "reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms." The company is appealing the 2004 decision.

"We are waiting until the court has made a decision and that will be September," Kroes said during an interview in Lisbon.

The commission levied a record €497 million, or $677 million, penalty in March 2004. It fined Microsoft another €280 million in July 2006 for flouting the decision. The regulator is currently considering a third fine in the case.

British Sky Broadcasting has rejected claims by the cable group Virgin Media that it abused a dominant position, saying it provoked the row that led to Sky's pulling some channels from Virgin Media's platform.

In papers submitted to the High Court, BSkyB said the breakdown in negotiations that resulted in Sky's withdrawing basic channels like Sky One and Sky News was the result of Virgin Media's commercial conduct.

BSkyB, which is 39 percent owned by News Corp., denied Virgin Media's charge that it had orchestrated a strategy to weaken the cable group.

Virgin Media had launched a legal case against BSkyB in April, accusing the satellite group of abusing a dominant position by withdrawing channels that carry popular programs like "Lost" and "24."

Google filed an appeal seeking to overturn a copyright ruling in a Belgian case that restricted its ability to link to news stories.

Google filed the appeal last month with the Brussels Court of Appeal while continuing talks with the Belgian publishing association Copiepresse, a Google spokeswoman, Jessica Powell, said. In May, the two sides reached a partial settlement that allowed Google to offer access to portions of the newspapers' Web sites.

A Brussels court on Feb. 13 found Google guilty of breaching copyright laws by publishing links to the Belgian newspaper articles on its Internet news service without permission.

The British Broadcasting Corp. must be more innovative to satisfy the public, said Michael Lyons, its chairman. Innovation was rated as "important" by 72 percent of respondents in audience research and a consultation by the BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body. Only 51 percent said the BBC was "performing well" in this area, the broadcaster said as it released its annual report.

Buongiorno will buy iTouch Ventures for €129 million to become the world's biggest provider of music, videos and games for mobile phones, its chief executive, Andrea Casalini, said.

China Unicom, a leading mobile phone carrier, said it had started testing a music download service offering subscribers songs from 23 record companies, including EMI, Sony BMG, Warner Music and Universal Music.

Google bought GrandCentral Communications, a start-up that lets users manage their existing phones and voice mailboxes over the Web as if they were a single account. Financial terms were not disclosed.