Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law,americast.usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Fri, Oct 30 1992 Date: Fri, 30 Oct 92 09:37:04 EST Message-ID: 10-30 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network PRESS CO. SOLD TO POST-GAZETTE: E.W. Scripps is selling The Pittsburgh Press Co. to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a move that's likely to put Pittsburgh on the growing list of one-newspaper cities. The sale to Post-Gazette owner Blade Communications depends on the Post-Gazette getting a Teamsters contract. They have been on strike since May 17, shutting down both newspapers. If the deal fails, the Press will close. POST NOW CONTROLS TALKS: The Pittsburgh Press and the Post-Gazette are published under a joint operating agreement that expires at the end of 1999. Press Co. owns the building and the presses and distributes both newspapers. That arrangement has put the 156-person newsroom staff of the Post-Gazette on the sidelines during a union quarrel over delivery. Now the Post-Gazette is in control of the union talks. MORTGAGE BROKERS COULD CHARGE: Mortgage brokers and real estate agents who help homebuyers select a mortgage will be able to charge fees for that service under a proposed federal regulation. The Department of Housing and Urban Development regulation will cover closings that take place starting Dec. 3. Under the rules, brokers will have to fully disclose their prices for computerized loan originations. CLINTON OPPOSES USAIR DEAL: Presidential candidate Bill Clinton says he is opposed to British Airway's proposed $750 million investment in USAir. On CNN's "Larry King Live" this week he said, "I've got real problems with it. ... We get no access to the British market." American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines also oppose the deal unless U.S. airlines get equal access. INVESTORS PLAN TO SUE: A group of institutional investors that owns $100 million of Marriott Corp.'s bonds plan to file a lawsuit in Baltimore to block the proposed restructuring of the hotel company. The five institutional investors, led by PPM America, claim that Marriott violated securities fraud laws by announcing a planned split earlier in October. EXCHANGE SUBSIDIARIES ARE SUED: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve Board Thursday filed a civil injunction action against the Midwest Clearing Corp. and the Midwest Securities Trust Co. Both are subsidiaries of the Midwest Stock Exchange Inc. The action charged violations of antifraud and clearing agency registration requirements and other items. NEW LINE TO APPEAL RATING: New Line Cinema says it will appeal an NC-17 rating slapped on Louis Malle's "Damage," which stars Jeremy Irons and Juliette Binoche in the story of a member of the British Parliament who has an illicit affair with his son's fiancee. " `Basic Instinct' and other controversial major studio releases have had much more explicit and violent sex scenes, says New Line's president. SCUD STUD SUES NBC: Ex-NBC correspondent Arthur Kent filed a $25 million lawsuit against the network Thursday, accusing it of breach of contract, defamation and fraud. Kent was fired by NBC earlier this year after he refused an assignment to cover a war-torn Bosnia-Herzegovina. Kent alleged NBC dismissed him over a management dispute and has lied about the incident since. NBC had no comment. CRAZY EDDIE EX-EXEC GUILTY: A former executive of the defunct Crazy Eddie electronics chain has pleaded guilty to federal charges of inflating the company's stock value. Isaac Kairey, 41, was an executive for the company owned by Eddie Antar. Antar, no longer the owner, was arrested in June in Israel and is fighting extradition. ENVIRONMENTAL FINES REACH $2B: The Department of Justice Thursday said it set a record in recovering more than $2 billion from environmental actions in this fiscal year. That includes criminal and civil penalties; recovering Superfund costs and court-ordered hazardous waste cleanups; and natural resource damages. Justice said it has recovered more than $5 billion over the past five years. PATENT SYSTEM NEEDS REFORM: Pressure is building to reform the U.S. patent system. Critics charge that the system is bogged down in litigation and confusion over patent rights. A Commerce Department commission has suggested changing the system so that patents would go to the first to file, not the first to invent. Under U.S. law, a patent is granted to the person who can prove he had the idea first no matter when he filed. BILL COULD TRIPLE COMMITMENT: President Bush's approval of a bill extending the Small Business Innovation and Research program could triple the federal government's commitment to small high-tech companies, SBA acting regional administrator Donald C. Smith said Thursday. The program helps small businesses develop products and services that satisfy specific research and development needs of the federal government. COLLEGE BOUND UNIT SOLD: The court-appointed trustee for College Bound Inc. Thursday agreed to sell the education curriculum of the defunct company's last remaining unit to Viewfacts Meloche Inc. for $286,000, Bloomberg Business News reported. The sale must be approved by a federal bankruptcy judge. The market research firm Viewfacts will pay the test preparation firm for materials and computer disks. BANK ACQUISITION IS PROPOSED: United Bancshares Inc. Thursday signed a letter of intent to acquire Financial Future Corp. The acquisition will be done with a stock swap valued at $16.8 million, about 1.6 times Financial Future's book value. Financial Future shareholders will receive five United common shares for each Financial Future share. Financial Future has four branches in West Virginia. BIRTH CONTROL CLEARED FOR USA: The Upjohn Co. Thursday said the Depo-Provera Contraceptive Injection has been cleared for the company to market it in the USA as birth control. Depo-Provera is a prescription medication which contains the active ingredient medroxyprogesterone acetate, a synthetic form of the natural hormone progesterone. Each injection gives three months of birth control. HOME RECORDING ACT IS SIGNED: President Bush paved the way for the sale of Digital Compact Cassettes and Sony's portable MiniDisc formats Wednesday by signing the Audio Home Recording Act. It settles the war between record and electronics industries by providing royalty payments to musicians and others whose copyrighted works may be taped at home. Business Law Editor: Beth Mann. (919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM