Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.law From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: law Wed, Jun 3 1992 Date: Wed, 3 Jun 92 05:20:41 EDT Message-ID: 06-03 0000 DECISIONLINE: Business Law USA TODAY Update June 3, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network MILKEN TESTIFIES: Deposed junk-bond king Michael Milken testified Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York at the trial of a former Drexel Burnham Lambert colleague, Alan Rosenthal. Milken is testifying in an effort to get his 10-year prison sentence on securities fraud charges reduced. He said Rosenthal provided information and recorded illegal transactions but never executed them. BUSH TO RENEW CHINA MFN STATUS: President Bush Tuesday said he will renew China's most favored nation trade status in spite of tension between the two countries. White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater defended the decision, saying Bush has seen "positive, if limited" improvements in China's human rights record, a key objection by those opposed to giving China a break on products shipped to the USA. HOUSE COMMITTEE PASSES BILL: Reacting to the Salomon Bros. bond trading scandal, a House committee Tuesday approved a bill that would give the Securities and Exchange Commission broader powers to fight abuse in the $2.3 trillion treasury securities market. The bill is opposed by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board who say more regulation of the market could boost the government's cost of borrowing money. SEC SEES DIFFERENT WORLD: Rep. Edward Markey D-Mass., sponsor of a bill that would give the SEC new powers to fight abuse in the treasury securities market, says the world the SEC sees is different from the world viewed by Fed economists and Treasury political appointees. The Federal Reserve Board and Treasury oppose the bill. If the bill is approved, it must be reconciled with a milder Senate version. ADAMS CALLED CHIEF OBSTACLE: Labor and timber industry spokesmen Tuesday labeled liberal Sen. Brock Adams, D-Wash., their single greatest obstacle to guaranteed timber-harvesting in spotted owl forests. "He's got kind of a mission now," said Mike Draper of the Western Council of Industrial Workers. "Even with a labor background, I think Senator Adams is going to be an impediment to the process." SPORTS BETTING BANNED: The Senate voted 88-5 Tuesday to ban government-sponsored sports betting in all states except Nevada, Delaware, Oregon, North Dakota, and Montana. Those five states either have sports lotteries or the state governments there are considering them. Supporters of the bill said it would eliminate the worry that an athlete's poor performance was intentional because of a bet. PFIZER SUES SCHUYLER: Pfizer Inc. announced Tuesday that it has filed suit against an Illinois supplier of animal health products, Schuyler Laboratories Inc., for infringement of the patent covering an antibiotic used in animals. The complaint seeks an order barring the defendant from making, using or selling oxytetracycline compositions covered by Pfizer's patent and asked for damages from use of the patent. ETEQ, CHIPS RESOLVE SUIT: ETEQ Microsystems Inc. and Chips and Technologies Inc. have resolved the patent infringement actions that Chips filed against ETEQ in U.S. District Court in San Jose and with the International Trade Commission, Chips said Tuesday. ETEQ has agreed to cease manufacturing and selling memory controller chip sets that include the page interleave feature covered by Chips' patents. RULING REVERSED IN J-P CASE: Jefferson-Pilot Corp. Tuesday announced that it received a favorable ruling from the North Carolina Court of Appeals in its appeal of an order entered by the Guilford County Superior Court. The appeals court reversed the lower court, ruling that J-P does not have to provide accounting records or certain other records sought by Louise Price Parsons in her suit against Jefferson-Pilot. FISHING RULES TAKE EFFECT: Federal rules reserving 35% of Alaska's billion-dollar bottom fishing industry for on-shore processors went into effect Tuesday. A lawsuit by factory trawl companies challenging the rules is pending. Contested: 1.3 billion pounds of pollock, the chief ingredient in an imitation crab meat. PANEL DOES NOT REQUIRE COVERAGE: A state panel in Virginia has chosen not to require insurance companies to pay for midwives. The decision backs up Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia, which refuses to pay for deliveries by midwives. INJUNCTION OVER SALE SOUGHT: Theme Park Ventures of Atlanta - owner of The Life of Christ painting - is seeking an injunction to halt its sale at an auction planned June 13 by the firm that has stored it since 1984. The storage firm wants $2.7 million in rent for the work that is 11 feet high and over two football fields long. Several deals to display it in tourist attractions have fallen through. Business Law Editor: Jason P. Smith. (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