News in brief . . . .

 . . . . WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2010

MIAMI (Fla.):  “A five-year contract dispute between one of international soccer’s bad boys and England’s Chelsea soccer club has landed in Miami federal court.”

KAMPALA (Uganda):  The president of Uganda has overruled the country’s Wildlife Authority and reinstated the exclusive 30-year National Parks concession of the Madhvani Group’s hospitality division.  “The is not the way we do business in Uganda,” said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (right).  Investors who “came to the aid of Uganda during the hard years after the liberation war must never be told that they have served their purpose and can now be replaced.”

NEW YORK (N.Y.) “A New York federal judge has weighed in on an important case that could be worth billions of dollars and impact the future of Iron Man, X-Men, The Incredible Hulk, Spider-Man, and other superhero characters. The case involves an attempt by the estate of comic book artist Jack Kirby to terminate a copyright grant over his work.”

WILMINGTON (Del.):  “Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. are in talks aimed at settling a legal dispute over the use of each other’s technology, two people familiar with the matter said.”

ROTTERDAM (Neth.): “Switzerland-based Basilea Pharmaceutica announced that a Dutch arbitration tribunal has found US drug major Johnson & Johnson in breach of its license agreement with the company. The tribunal awarded Basilea around $130 million as compensation.”

TOKYO (Japan):  “Toyota Motor Corp. has filed a $73.8 million breach of contract lawsuit against General Motors Co.’s bankruptcy estate over the closing earlier this year of their joint manufacturing plant in California.” 

MILWAUKEE (Wisc.):  “A federal class action claims that Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance took advantage of thousands of whole-life policyholders by failing to adjust interest rates on loans in accordance with the economic climate, as it promised to do.”

NEW YORK (N.Y.):  “A subsidiary of Axa S.A. filed suit against a unit of ING Groep N.V., alleging misrepresentations involving Axa’s $1.5 billion acquisition of the Mexican insurance company Seguros ING, S.A. de C.V. and its subsidiaries. The suit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, alleges breach of presentations and warranties and breach of contract and seeks unspecified damages.”

FGS