The European Commission has forecast a mild recession for the euro zone as the region is projected to shrink 0.3 percent this year. This took a quick turn from November of last year, when EC had forecast growth of 0.5 percent in 2012. One of the greatest contributors to the drastic change is from Spain, which had a previous forecast of +0.7 percent but now has a 1 percent contraction estimate.
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A report called “China 2030” by the World Bank and government insiders paints a grim picture for the country. China may endure an economic crisis unless it utilizes serious reforms such as scaling back it state-owned enterprises and having them act more like commercial companies. This report will be out on Monday and it also includes a look at some of China’s sensitive economic concerns.
Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) has filed a lawsuit against Sprint (NYSE:S) for the alleged patent infringement of wireless networking technologies from four patents issued during the period of 1999 to 2010. This comes just two months after Sprint launched a suit against Comcast and other cable companies on infringement allegations for a dozen voice-over-IP patents.
Sprint hasn’t responded to Comcast’s new filing while the cable provider has asked the court for an injunction and monetary compensation.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has filed a complaint with European regulators alleging that Motorola Mobility Holdings (NYSE:MMI), through Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) support, is misusing patents and demanding unfairly high prices from device makers to use standard patents, reported The Wall Street Journal. The questionable patents affect Microsoft’s laptops and Xbox game console.
Noting concerns of increased identity theft and fraud risk from the recent privacy policy changes made by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), 36 Attorneys General have sent the company’s chief executive, Larry Page, a letter stating their issues and suggesting guidelines. The company’s new policy begins on March 1, which will combine users’ personal information from web history, YouTube with other Google products. Users will be unable to opt out without leaving the entire Google system.
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To contact the reporter on this story: Debbie Baratz at staff.writers@wallstcheatsheet.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Damien Hoffman at editors@wallstcheatsheet.com
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