Lawyers

• Big businesses back affirmative action before U.S. Supreme Court

  Three major companies, citing the under-representation of minorities in science and technology fields, are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold affirmative action in university admissions in a closely watched case to be argued next month.

• Apple's newest courtroom foe is patent-savvy university

  As a veteran of the global smart phone wars, Apple(AAPL.O) is used to courtroom battles with fierce competitors such as Samsung(005930.KS) and Nokia(NOKIA.HE).

• Apple loses patent lawsuit to University of Wisconsin, faces hefty damages

  Apple Inc could be facing up to $862 million in damages after a U.S. jury on Tuesday found the iPhone maker used technology owned by the University of Wisconsin-Madison's licensing arm without permission in chips found in many of its most popular devices.

• South Korea antitrust body investigating Qualcomm: source

  South Korea's Fair Trade Commission is investigating Qualcomm Inc, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday, adding to antitrust woes for the U.S. chipmaker following a record fine it agreed to pay in China.

• Apple, Google reach new deal to end U.S. lawsuit over poaching

  Four Silicon Valley companies including Apple Inc and Google Inc have agreed to a new settlement that would resolve an antitrust class action lawsuit by tech workers, who accused the firms of conspiring to avoid poaching each other's employees.

• Silicon Valley companies settle employee antitrust lawsuit for $324.5 M

  Tech companies Apple Inc, Google Inc, Intel Corp and Adobe Systems Inc reportedly settled employee antitrust claims for 10th of the original amount intended to be sought by complainants if the case had went to trial.

• EBay agrees to pay $3.75 million to California state to settle antitrust hiring lawsuit

  Bloomberg reported that EBay Inc has agreed to settle a illegal hiring practice complaint with the California state and will be paying $3.75 million as a result of that accord.