International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) is being probed by the U.S. Justice Department over corruption allegations in Poland , Argentina, Bangladesh and Ukraine, adding to bribery charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Justice Department is investigating whether IBM violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the company said in an April 30 filing . In Poland, the department is focusing on a transaction that the Polish Central Anti-Corruption...

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is suing Visa after accusing the network of misusing its market power to distort competing dynamic currency conversion (DCC) services. Such conversion services allow consumers to choose whether they complete a transaction in their home currency or in the local one of the POS terminal or ATM they are using. In 2010 Visa announced rules to stop the expansion of supply of DCC services by rival providers on POS transactions on its...

World governments keep asking Google to remove content, and Google keeps tattling on them. In its latest transparency report , released Thursday, Google writes that the number of requests from governments to remove online content has grown. Between July and December 2012, Google received 2,285 requests to remove online content, compared with only 1,811 requests during the first six months of 2012. These numbers have been steadily growing since 2010. Many of the removal requests were made in...

As a result of the 2013 Special 301 Review, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) designates Ukraine as a priority foreign country (PFC). This designation is the culmination of several years of growing concern over widespread IP theft, including the growing entrenchment of IPR infringement that is facilitated by government actors. During intensive bilateral engagement, Ukraine has made a series of commitments to make specific improvements in the areas of government use of pirated software,...

Microsoft has become the latest foreign company to suffer the ire of China’s state media over alleged consumer rights abuses in the country. In a programme aired a week ago on China National Radio, a state-owned radio station, the software giant was criticised for after-sales service relating to its Surface tablet, arguing that Microsoft flouted Chinese laws by offering one-year warranties on the tablets instead of two-year. It comes on the heels of an aggressive state-media campaign against...

Companies including Microsoft and Nokia have stepped up pressure on EU antitrust regulators to take action against Google, accusing it of blocking competition in mobile telephony. The complaint comes as Google attempts to resolve a two-year long investigation by the European Commission into its internet search practices and avert a possible fine that could hit $5 billion, or 10 percent of its 2012 revenue. More than a dozen companies have voiced their grievances about Google's search practices to the...

Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 57 of 26 February 2013 On Approval of Regulation on the Procedure for the Issuance of Licenses Allowing Non-banking Financial Institutions to Transfer Funds in the Domestic Currency without Opening Accounts (hereinafter referred to as Resolution No. 57), which was registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine on 13 March 2013, will take effect on 29 March 2013. This Regulation applies to the non-banking financial institutions intending to...

The Financial Times is reporting that payment systems in the UK are going to be regulated "much like a utility". Tuesday’s announcement of a consultation on the issue makes clear that the government wants to put the system for retail payments – including bank transfers, cheque clearing and credit card payments – under formal regulation by an existing authority. The full consultation report, "Opening Up UK Payments", is available for download here .   http://www.paymentsnews.com/