■ Electronics
Nippon Polaroid's TV plans
Nippon Polaroid KK is to enter the flat-panel television market in Japan, a news report said yesterday. The Japanese arm of US camera producer Polaroid Corp plans to launch a 32-inch model priced at about ¥100,000 (US$847) and a 20-inch model for around ¥70,000, according to Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun. The TVs will be on sale from early next month, the report said. Nippon Polaroid plans to procure the TVs from a Taiwanese manufacturer, which was not named in the report.
■ Japan
Overseas sales boom
Overseas markets are accounting for a higher percentage of sales for listed Japanese companies, reaching 50.6 percent on average, a report said yesterday. The figure compares with 42 percent of sales overseas in a fiscal 2001 study for the same firms, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily reported, citing April-September earnings reports released last Friday. The automobile and electrical machinery sectors saw the percentage of overseas sales rise further, in part because the weaker yen caused yen-based sales to balloon, it said. The six major automakers generated 76 percent of their sales abroad, while six major electronics manufacturers logged 51 percent of their sales in overseas markets, it said.
■ Pharmaceuticals
Pfizer in Viagra battle
US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has taken a Chinese pharmaceutical company to court over infringing its copyright for its erectile dysfunction drug Viagra, state media reported yesterday. The case against Guangzhou Welman pharmaceutical company was heard in a Beijing court on Thursday but a verdict was not delivered immediately, the Beijing News reported. The legal action comes after Pfizer won a court ruling upholding its China patent for Viagra in June. Pfizer had originally obtained a Chinese patent license for Viagra in 2001 but the country's patent review board, the State Intellectual Property Office, revoked the license in July 2004 following complaints by 12 Chinese pharmaceutical companies.
■ Banking
New law attracts interest
More than 10 foreign lenders have expressed an interest in setting up new local operations in China following the release of new rules governing foreign-funded banks, state media reported yesterday. Foreign banks which have shown an interest in transferring operating branches into locally registered corporations include HSBC, Standard Chartered and Hang Seng Bank, the China Daily said. The new rules will allow foreign banks access to the local currency retail market and subject them to the same regulatory requirements as that of local banks.
■ Internet
Search rivals join forces
Internet search rivals Google, Yahoo and Microsoft formed an alliance on Thursday to support a shared standard regarding how Web sites are pinpointed for their indexes. The "joint initiative" was intended to make it easier for Web masters to let Internet search engines know what their online pages contained, according to Google. Search engines could use the information gathered in the "Web crawl" process to better tailor results for their users. Yahoo and Microsoft announced they would each support Google's "Sitemaps 0.90" protocol instead of using different standards for submissions by Web masters.
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
Thirty Taiwanese firms, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), yesterday launched a silicon photonics industry alliance, aiming to accelerate the medium’s development and address the energy efficiency of artificial intelligence (AI) devices like data centers. As the world is ushering in a new AI era with tremendous demand for computing power and algorithms, energy consumption is emerging as a critical issue, TSMC vice president of integrated interconnect and packaging business C.K. Hsu (徐國晉) told a media briefing in Taipei. To solve this issue, it is essential to introduce silicon photonics and copackaged optics (CPO)
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
GRAFT PROBE: Critics questioned Ko claiming he did not know about the Core Pacific floor area ratio issue until this year, citing a 2021 video in which he was asked about it Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project. Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心). The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his
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