UPI NewsTrack Business

Gibson sues MTV because of Guitar Hero

NASHVILLE, March 22 (UPI) -- Gibson Guitar is suing MTV Networks and Harmonix in federal court in Tennessee, claiming Guitar Hero games violate a patent, the guitar maker said Friday.

Gibson argues the games, which are played with a guitar-like controller that synchronizes with music on a television, are in violation of a 1999 patent for technological devices to recreate a musical act, The New York Times reported.

The Tennessee patent infringement lawsuit comes after an earlier lawsuit filed by Gibson against several companies regarding the 1999 patent, Gibson said.

Fourteen million Guitar Hero games valued at $1 billion have been purchased in North America in the past three years, the Times reported.

ISPs derail low-cost city Internet plans

PHILADELPHIA, March 22 (UPI) -- Philadelphia's plan to give nearly cost-free Internet to the entire city has been derailed as Internet companies withdraw from WiFi deals, a report said.

The city publicized its plan in 2005 to install the country's biggest Wi-Fi system, covering 135 square miles and providing residents, mainly the poor, with Internet service, The New York Times reported Saturday.

Thirteen large cities, including San Francisco, Houston and Chicago, and many smaller ones jumped on board for the new low-cost Internet plan, which has been halted by major Internet provider's decisions to pull out of the deals, citing fears that it would not create revenue.

"All these cities had this hype hangover late last year when EarthLink announced its intentions to pull out. Now that they're all sobered up, they're trying to figure out if it's still possible to capture the dream of providing affordable and high-speed access to all residents," said Craig Settles, an independent wireless consultant and author of "Fighting the Good Fight for Municipal Wireless."

Cheney discusses oil in Saudi capital

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney discussed ways to steady the global oil market with Saudi Arabia's King Abdallah in Riyadh, a report said.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi joined the talks about Opec's refusal to increase output. Crude oil prices have soared 16 percent this year to more than $100 a barrel.

U.S. authorities said Saudi Arabia shared many opinions regarding the improvement of the world's energy market, the BBC reported. Other subjects discussed during talks in Saudi Arabia were possible Iranian nuclear threats and political growth in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, U.S. officials said.

"There was I think a lot of commonality in their assessment about the structural problems confronted by the global energy market now and some discussion of probably the way forward," a senior U.S. official said.

Cheney is scheduled to visit Israel, the West Bank and Turkey during his tour of the Middle East.

USProtect Corp. facing crisis, suspicion

GREENBELT, Md., March 22 (UPI) -- Court papers filed Maryland have raised suspicion that USProtect Corp., a security group facing a financial crisis, was involved with "irregular" payments.

According to court documents, the security company made $5 million in payments to its owner, Lisa Hudec, and those payments helped push the firm into its financial morass, The Washington Times reported Saturday.

Attorneys for the Wachovia Corp. subsidiary, Wachovia Bank NA, said the payments came in "irregular intervals and in varying amounts" and occurred before the company was unable to pay hundreds of its employees last week.

The court documents filed in bankruptcy court show that last year, Hudec had a salary of $384,615.

The Times said USProtect Corp., which was hired to offer protective services for federal courthouses, has since been forced into bankruptcy proceedings by its creditors.

As part of the bankruptcy case, federal authorities have laid claim to nearly $7 million of the company's assets, alleging they were tied to illegal activities involving former USProtect employees.