It’s heating up in Houston: A jury is still mulling the fate of jailed Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford on charges he bilked $7 billion from investors in a massive Ponzi scheme. Jurors in the financier’s fraud trial in Houston continued deliberating today. The panel began deliberations Wednesday. Even if the jury had reached a verdict today, the decision wouldn’t have been announced until Monday because a prior engagement prevented the trial judge from being available to hear it. Defense attorneys told jurors that Stanford made money for investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank. Prosecutors countered that Stanford took investors’ money and flushed it away on failed businesses and his lavish lifestyle. If convicted, Stanford could be sentenced to more than 20 years in prison.
Transatlantic call: A German court has dismissed patent lawsuits by technology giants Apple and Samsung against each other in the two companies’ battle over the market for smartphones and tablet devices. Mannheim state court spokesman Joachim Bock says judges dismissed both cases involving alleged patent infringements of the companies’ respective slide-to-lock technology on mobile devices. Samsung Electronics welcomed today’s dismissal of Apple’s case against the firm, but vowed to appeal the dismissal of its lawsuit against Apple. It also said a separate case regarding four alleged patent infringements is still pending with the Mannheim court. Apple Germany was not immediately reachable for comment. Samsung and Apple are engaged in a strategic war over patents in many countries.
Screens and scenes: Broadcasters have sued a startup backed by media billionaire Barry Diller that sends live local TV feeds to iPhones and iPads in the New York area. Two groups of broadcasters, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the local PBS station, filed suits Thursday in federal court, saying Aereo Inc.’s service uses their content without permission. Aereo launched two weeks ago, but it’s available by invitation only. Subscribers pay $12 per month for access to 27 locally broadcast TV channels through the Web browsers on their Apple devices. It’s set to open up to more subscribers on March 14. The company hopes to expand service to other cities. Aereo says the suits are groundless and that it looks forward to “a full and fair airing of the issues.” The company has more than $25 million in venture capital backing. Read the full story from The Associated Press here.
