---

BACK TO TOP
|

Search leader Google adds e-mail

SAN FRANCISCO >> Google, the dominant Internet search company, is planning to raise the stakes in its intensifying competition with Yahoo and Microsoft by unveiling a new consumer-oriented e-mail service.

The new service, to be named Gmail, is scheduled to be online today, according to people involved with the plan.

It will be "soft launched," they said, in a manner that Google has followed with other features that it has added to its Web site, with little fanfare and presented initially as a long-running test.

E-mail has become a crucial weapon in the competition to win the allegiance of Internet users, who often turn to one or two Web sites as the foundation for their online activities.

As MSN, from Microsoft, and Yahoo are preparing to attack Google's role as the first place most people turn to conduct an Internet search, Google is hoping to counter those assaults by moving onto the turf they have already claimed in providing e-mail services as part of their portals.

H&R Block, Household face suit

A class-action racketeering lawsuit that accuses H&R Block, the big tax preparation company, and Household International, a consumer lender, of conspiring to trick poor customers into taking out high-interest loans will proceed toward trial, a federal judge in Chicago ruled on Tuesday.

Both sides claimed victory after U.S. District Judge Elaine E. Bucklo, in a 20-page decision, dismissed most of the counts against the two companies but upheld two racketeering complaints.

The companies face the potential of triple damages that could run to billions of dollars if arguments by the plaintiffs' lawyers prevail in the case, which has been winding its way through the courts since the late 1990s.

Sony sues Kodak over technology

Sony Corp., the biggest seller of digital cameras in the United States, sued Eastman Kodak Co. over alleged use of patented camera technology, as competition in the $11.6 billion global digital market intensifies.

Kodak, the world's biggest photography company, last month brought claims against Sony in Rochester, N.Y., saying Sony Electronics infringed 10 patents issued between 1987 and 2003, including ones for image compression and storage in digital cameras.

"It's customized chips and components that differentiate products from the pack, so you're probably going to see more lawsuits in the future," said John Yang, an analyst at Standard & Poor's in Tokyo.

The suit brought by Sony, maker of Cyber-shot digital cameras, is the company's first concerning digital still camera technology.