trading

In light of yesterday's news that the Federal Trade Commission has officially launched an investigation into Google's business practices, it seems a good time to review the search giant's rich history in related antitrust matters.

The following is a timeline of some of some of the company's pivotal run-ins with trustbusters.

For its part, Google this morning acknowledged that it had received formal notification from the FTC about its probe and plans to work with the agency in coming months. But it stands by its principles and company mission and suggested the investigation is misguided.

The … Read more

Amazon announced today it is expanding its trade-in program to allow customers to swap their used electronics for Amazon gift cards.

The online retailer said it will accept used tablets, cell phones, MP3 players, cameras, and GPS devices, regardless of where the items were purchased. Would-be electronics recyclers can search Amazon's Trade-in page for items being accepted for credit. Offered trade-in values range from 25 cents for a variety of cell phones to $480 for Apple's iPad 2.

Customers indicate the condition of the item ("Like New," "Good," or " Acceptable") and print … Read more

PlayStation 3 trade-ins have hit higher-than-expected levels at some retail outlets following Sony's PlayStation Network troubles, a new report claims.

According to gaming publication Edge, U.K. retail sources say they've seen a "massive increase" in PlayStation 3 trade-ins over the past several weeks. In one location, a source claims, PlayStation 3 trade-ins are up "over 200 percent." Half of those folks are taking cash for the trade, the publication's source says, while the other half are opting to buy Microsoft's Xbox 360.

A source from another game retailer told Edge that … Read more

New data put out by eBay this morning shows that consumers are trading in more than double the number of iPads than iPods as part of the company's gadget trade-in program.

The tidbit accompanied news that eBay is giving Apple owners a bigger trade-in value for broken iPhones, iPads, and iPods. As part of the promotion, which coincides with Earth Day, those who trade in their nonworking gadgets can get up to $150 for a broken iPad, $100 for an iPhone, and $50 for an iPod. eBay is also doling out a $5 gift card, and a matching $5 … Read more

Motorola and Huawei Technologies have patched up their legal differences in disputes over the potential sharing of trade secrets.

The companies announced today that they've entered into an agreement to settle all litigation in two separate legal matters, pending certain conditions.

China-based Huawei has agreed to withdraw its lawsuit against Motorola and Nokia Siemens Networks. The suit, filed in January, sought to block Motorola's sale of its wireless equipment business to Nokia Siemens on the grounds that Motorola could reveal certain Huawei trade secrets to Nokia Siemens.

In a case that echos of its turmoil with ex-CEO Mark Hurd, Hewlett-Packard is suing a former executive, claiming he stole trade secrets before jumping ship to Oracle.

In the lawsuit filed yesterday, HP alleges that Adrian Jones, the former head of enterprise sales in the company's Asian division, copied proprietary documents and e-mails about HP product information onto a USB device, according to Reuters.

In a further twist to the case, HP said it was going to fire Jones after it learned that he had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, had set up a large pay increase … Read more

The Nasdaq stock exchange will cut the weighting it gives to Apple on a key index at the same time that it boosts the weighting for tech titans including Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

In a major rebalancing of the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, which will go into effect ahead of the market open on May 2, the exchange aims to better reflect the current market values of several significant companies. For example, Apple's weighting on the Nasdaq 100 is currently more than six times that of Microsoft, even though Apple's market value is only 46 percent larger, according … Read more

Google has agreed to establish a "comprehensive privacy program" to settle allegations that last year's launch of Google Buzz, a foray by the Web giant into social networking, initially shared more information than users reasonably expected.

The Federal Trade Commission said today that the Mountain View, Calif.-based company has entered into a settlement agreement, which does not admit any wrongdoing, that includes regular reports on its privacy practices prepared by an independent professional for the next 20 years.

"When companies make privacy pledges, they need to honor them," said Jon Leibowitz, the Democratic chairman … Read more

Cybercriminals are increasingly moving from stealing just personal data to capturing trade secrets and other corporate intellectual capital that they can easily sell through the underground market, according to a new report from McAfee and the SAIC.

In today's release of a new study, "Underground Economies: Intellectual Capital and Sensitive Corporate Data Now the Latest Cybercrime Currency" (PDF), McAfee and the Science Applications International Corporate find that the theft of trade secrets, marketing plans, R&D data, and even source code is on the rise, especially as such information is often unprotected.

Based on a global … Read more