Nancy Gohring

The U.S. General Services Administration gave MySQL AB's open source database a stamp of approval by awarding a five-year contract that makes it easy for government customers to buy MySQL products, the company said Monday.

In an effort to prevent counterfeiting, Pfizer Inc. said it has started to ship Viagra bottles in the U.S. that feature radio chips under the labels. Pharmacists with the proper equipment can read the chip and check the electronic product code stored on it in order to ensure that the product is genuine.

China surpassed the U.S. to become the world's number-one exporter of IT goods in 2004, according to a report released Monday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The standard for the broadband wireless technology known as mobile WiMax has been approved. Mobile WiMax networks will allow customers to wirelessly access the Internet anywhere they may be in a city. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE), a international standardization body, ratified the 802.16e standard, also called mobile WiMax.

In addition to a long-running lawsuit in the U.S. that is expected to come to a head soon, Blackberry-maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIM) is now also facing a series of lawsuits in Europe. This week, a five-day hearing began in the U.K. involving several patent-related complaints. The lawsuits are happening just as RIM is facing increasing competition.

Cisco Systems Inc. has agreed to acquire Scientific-Atlanta Inc. in a deal valued at US$6.9 billion, it said. The combination offers Cisco the fourth component of what the company is calling a quad play -- data, video, mobility and voice convergence. Cisco already has products that let service providers deliver data, voice and mobility. Scientific-Atlanta, a maker of cable set-top boxes, adds the video component.

Google Inc. on Monday began offering a downloadable application that extends its Google Local service to some mobile phone users. Called Google Local for mobile, the application lets users search for locations and then view them on a map. Users can also view the location as a satellite image and get driving directions. Also, when users find a listing through the service, they can click on the phone number and automatically place a call to the number.

Qualcomm Inc. on Monday said that it had filed a lawsuit against Nokia Corp. on Friday, charging Nokia with patent infringement. While this is the latest in a series of lawsuits dating back many years involving Qualcomm's patenting activities, the more recent lawsuits are significant because they point to the competing agendas of Qualcomm on one hand with other vendors including Nokia, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and Motorola Inc. on the other.