Sony Wins in China, Apple Loses in Texas: Tech Business Roundup

Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 3 has won a certification of quality from a safety standards regulator in China, which is leading to speculation that the country might reverse its current ban on gaming consoles. Consultant Lisa Hanson notes that any such change is the prerogative of the Ministry of Culture and if the ban ends, Sony and Nintendo (NTDOF.PK) would then face a lot of rivalry from online and mobile games.

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Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) lost in court Tuesday as a Texas federal jury ordered it to pay VirnetX Holding Corporation (AMEX:VHC) $368.2 million for infringing patents for virtual-private-network tech, used in Apple’s FaceTime function, which permits users to make video calls. Although VirnetX has hoped for more than $708 million, it will now seek an order through which to block the further use of its inventions.

LM Ericsson Telephone Company (NASDAQ:ERIC) intends to slash 1,550 of its staff in Sweden while it endeavors to reduce costs in an environment of slumping orders and a rise in less profitable contracts. The job cuts come after Ericsson’s core profit slid by 42 percent in the third quarter and after it forecast annual growth of between 3 and 5 percent in the telecom-equipment market for 2012 to 2015.

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