Apple PROTESTING Google Suit and 2 Morning Hot Stocks Turning Heads

The use of standards-essential patents by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) and its Android partners in their counter-suits is being protested by Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT); meanwhile Google has taken the position that many of Apple’s own software patents should be shared due to the sheer breadth of technologies they span. Apple and Google are also appealing against the dismissal of their lawsuits by U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner who has been critical of software patents, saying they do more harm than good.

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Solid-state drives (SSDs) had a miniscule sub-3 percent share of the notebook market in Q1, according to IHS, mostly due to their prohibitive pricing which found them in high end systems costing upwards of $900. Traditional hard drives were installed in all other machines. But SSD’s may yet make their mark, due to falling prices, Macbooks and cheaper ultrabooks, and this could affect Seagate (NASDAQ:STX) and Western Digital (NYSE:WDC), currently trading at very low valuations.

ArcelorMittal (NYSE:MT) has proposed a 36 percent cut in wages and doing away with retiree health care for employees hired after Sept. 1, the day after the expiry of an existing contract; the justification for the proposal to the USW is apparently falling steel prices and intense competition. Rival U.S. Steel (NYSE:X) may also be in the same boat due to rising healthcare and pension costs.

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