Court says Hef can keep playmates to himself
Hef has turned his attention from blondes to blocking. A court has ruled in favor of Hugh Hefner’s Playboy in banning searches for “playboy” and “playmate” from triggering sexy internet ads. On Wednesday, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the trademark Playboy terms should be protected even in internet searches that encourage pop-up advertisements. Playboy Enterprises, Inc. sued Excite Inc. and Netscape in 1999 for trademark infringement of the words. Playboy disliked advertisers that linked their sex-oriented ads to search words “playboy” and “playmate,” which the search engines would then profit from. Playboy attorney Barry Felder said the ruling makes it clear that trademarks should not be used in an ambiguous manner in the real or virtual world. Bill Norvelle, a patent attorney in Houston, said the 9th Circuit ruling was just a testing of established rules in new applications. 

Yo, RIAA, target Hong Kong (lotsa swapping)
Hong Kong is emerging as the global leader in illegal song swapping. Hong Kong fans have downloaded more than a billion Hong Kong dollars’ ($130 million U.S.) worth of songs online, according to a poll by TNS, a global market research company. The survey of Hong Kong users found almost half, 48 percent, had downloaded at least one song, while the 15- to 24-year-old group alone included 81 percent file-swappers. A Hong Kong government-appointed survey released at the same time discovered more than 90 percent of respondents feel this problem requires action. TNS said Hong Kong has become accustomed to getting its commercial digital products for free, and the internet has become the easiest way to get them, rather than the shady high-street stores that were once popular.

Zooming Yahoo boasts big $ boost over '02
Yahoo! has a reason to yodel. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said Wednesday that it earned $75 million, or 11 cents per share, during the final three months of 2003, its best ever. In 2002 it had a net income of $46.2 million, or 8 cents per share, during the same time. The fourth quarter saw revenues that more than doubled to $664 million, rising from $286 million at the same time the year before. The quarter ended Yahoo’s most profitable year since the company was founded nearly 10 years ago. Yet, as profits went up, Yahoo shares still went down, falling $1.91, or 4 percent, to $46.48 on the Nasdaq. Yahoo’s success has prompted them to break ties with Google Inc. Yahoo had relied on Google for some of its algorithmic search results since June 2000, but now Yahoo has acquired Inktomi for $280 million, which will run searches.

Gender bender: Italian men go online more
Apparently there’s a pretty big Mars-Venus divide abroad. A worldwide study organized by UCLA’s Center for Communication Policy finds Italy and Spain have the largest online gender gap. The exact figures showed 42 percent of Italian men online, as opposed to only 22 percent of women. Spain trailed slightly with a disparity of 19 percentage points. The report also found Chinese users would probably say the internet is what connects them with people sharing their political views. In China, 21 percent of urban internet users say connecting to the internet helps them hook up with people of similar political minds. Singapore, a similarly totalitarian state, was the runner-up with 8.6 percent of internet users finding political empathy from others online.