San Francisco - Cisco Systems, with Chief Executive John Chambers, sued Apple Inc. in federal court on Wednesday, claiming that Cisco owns the iPhone trademark. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled the long awaited Apple iPhone at the MacWorld trade show in San Francisco on Tuesday, but Cisco claims that Apple does not have the right to use the name 'iPhone'. In spite of some reports yesterday to the contrary, the matter of the high-profile product's naming had not been resolved behind the scenes between two of the biggest names in Silicon Valley. [more..]

Washington - A proposal to prevent big network operators from charging higher fees for faster access to their broadband lines -- commonly referred to as "Net neutrality" -- was resurrected in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday. [more..]

Tokyo - Nintendo on Wednesday raised its fiscal year outlook, crediting strong sales of its dual-screen DS handheld game player, the Associated Press reported. [more..]

San Jose, Calif. - eBay, the Internet auction giant, is close to a deal to acquire San Francisco-based online ticket reseller StubHub, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition Wednesday. [more..]

Las Vegas - A number of top U.S. retailers have pledged support for Time Warner's proposed combination DVD format, which will combine competing Blu-ray and HD DVD technologies on a single disc, Reuters reported. [more..]

Washington - Digital music consumers are listening to more music overall, discovering more new music, discussing music more with friends and attending more concerts, according to a survey conducted by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), which represents webcasters.
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Las Vegas - CBS has partnered with Sling Media, a developer of video "place-shifting" technology that lets users access premium home channels while away from any Internet-connected device, on a test of a service that will allow users to share short segments of CBS programming. [more..]

McLean, Va. - Hoping to fight declining circulation and revenue, three major newspaper publishers, Gannett, McClatchy and Tribune, plan to jointly begin selling display ads for their Internet sites, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. [more..]

London - Major record label Universal Music Group on Wednesday launched ClassicsandJazz.co.uk, which it says is the largest online retail site for classical and jazz music on the Internet, Reuters reported. [more..]

New York - Microsoft plans to add video game functionality to its portable Zune music and video player within 18 months, Xbox vice president Peter Moore told Bloomberg.com. The move would be Microsoft's first foray into the handheld game market currently dominated by Nintendo's DS and Game Boy Advance, and Sony's PSP. The Zune is already compatible with Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console. Microsoft expects to sell 1 million Zune players by the end of June, with the unspecified video game components coming by July 2008. [more..]

Las Vegas - Texas Instruments announced that it has developed technology that can turn a cell phone into a powerful digital video projector. The cell phone projector add-on, which uses the same DLP technology found in TI's cinema-grade digital projectors, measures about 1.5-inches and can transmit DVD-quality video stored on the phone onto a white screen or wall. "You could actually drive a large-screen TV," TI CEO Rich Templeton told CNET News.com. TI also said its DLP digital cinema projectors have now been deployed in over 3,000 movie theater screens worldwide. [more..]

Las Vegas - CBS Interactive announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Google's YouTube video-sharing site on a user-generated campaign called "15 Seconds," which seeks 15-second inspirational videos for possible airing on CBS. Submissions may cover any topic, and will be broadcast periodically on CBS. The first selection will be broadcast during pre-game coverage of Super Bowl XLI on Feb. 4. [more..]

Beaverton, Ore. - Digimarc, a developer of digital watermarking technology used to identify and protect copyrighted works, announced on Wednesday that USA Video Interactive (USVO) has signed a multi-year patent license agreement. Under the deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, USVO can use Digimarc technology in its forensic tracking applications for commercially-available video, pre-release video and home marketing screening video. USVO said a major Hollywood studio recently signed on to use its products. [more..]

New York - Viacom's MTV Networks announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with virtual mobile network operator Amp'd Mobile on an original made-for-mobile series that will be distributed exclusively on Amp'd. The two companies recently announced that an earlier made-for-mobile collaboration, "Lil' Bush: Resident of the United States," will cross over and also air on television. The companies did not provide additional details on the new original series. [more..]

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s MySpace online social network on Wednesday announced the launch of a contest that asks users to submit videos expressing their views on where America is, and where it should be going. Judges choosing finalist videos will include former Senate Majority Leader Dr. Bill Frist, former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta, and political bloggers Markos Moulitsas Zúniga of DailyKos and Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online. MySpace users then will vote on a winner, to be announced on Jan. 22 -- the day before President Bush delivers his State of the Union address. [more..]

Ann Arbor, Mich. - U.S. retailer Borders announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with online social network Gather.com, to create an online community to host author chats, interviews, and in-store event information. The Borders.Gather.com site will also post user-supplied content like articles, blogs and chats, and offer users who contribute to the site Gather Points that can be redeemed for Borders merchandise. [more..]

Las Vegas - MediaREADY, a maker of digital home entertainment devices, said on Wednesday that it has partnered with Podcast Ready, and will include the company's myPodder podcast management software on its MediaREADY Glider and MediaREADY Aero MP3 players. Introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, the new MediaREADY players are slated for release in March. [more..]

Las Vegas - Consumer electronics firm Polaroid on Wednesday introduced two new Wi-Fi-enabled portable media players at the Consumer Electronics Show. The devices -- a 4.3-inch screen, 80GB model, and 2.8-inch screen, 20GB model -- will support wireless downloads and music file and video exchange between various Polaroid home entertainment components. The company did not provide pricing or release details for the media players. [more..]

New York - Viacom's Nickelodeon children's entertainment unit announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with Dallas-based online casual game publisher MumboJumbo. Under the deal, the companies will publish three casual games in the coming year, based on the Nickelodeon properties "Charlotte's Web," Neopets and "Avatar: The Last Airbender." [more..]

Seoul, South Korea - Korean online game developer and publisher Gravity announced on Wednesday that it has signed agreements to distribute its "Ragnarok Online 2" massively multiplayer online title in China, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. Gravity said the deals, reached with a subsidiary of The9 in China and Gamania Digital Entertainment in the other territories, will generate at least $31.5 million for the term of the contracts. [more..]

New York - Atari announced that it has shipped its "Arthur and the Invisibles" title,  based on the Luc Besson animated film from MGM/The Weinstein Company due in theaters on Jan. 12. The game was developed for PlayStation 2 and the PC by France-based Etranges Libellules, for Nintendo DS by Neko, and for Game Boy Advance by Mistic. Separately, Atari said it has released "Pat Sajack's Lucky Letters Deluxe" for the PC. [more..]