ORACLE

Now that Canadian telecommunications powerhouse Research in Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) has a new boss and a new outlook, the BlackBerry developer is in play. Here are some prospective buyers.

Despite the collapse of Eastman Kodak (Pink: EKDKQ) because it couldn’t sell its valuable patents last year, the market for intellectual property remains red hot and growing, a leading IP banker said.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), the world’s biggest database software company, settled a price-fixing lawsuit against Micron Technology (NYSE: MU) for $58 million.

According to a report, Apple devices such as the iPhone that use Google products like Maps and Google Search in its Safari browser generated over four times the revenue for the search engine giant than its own handsets between 2008 and the end of 2011.

Basho, a four-year-old startup, is challenging giants like Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) and EMC (NYSE: EMC) in the database market as well as new products for the Cloud, or Internet-based computing.

Oracle has rejected an offer made by Google to pay it a percentage of the revenue from its Android mobile operating system, if the verdict in the patent infringement suit goes against the search giant.

Bruce Wayne drives a Lamborghini Gallardo, as we all learned in The Dark Knight. Normally, when he's all suited up to fight crime, the Caped Crusader switches to the all-purpose personal tank known affectionately as the Batmobile. But not today.

ZTE Corp, China's second-largest telecommunications equipment maker, said it will curtail its business in Iran following a report that it had sold Iran's largest telecom firm a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring telephone and Internet communications.

An Oracle Corp. investor sued the company and members of its board of directors on Thursday for allegedly trying to stonewall a whistleblower lawsuit that ultimately resulted in a $200 million settlement.

Large enterprises that see the perils of “Big Data” are planning ahead by upgrading their computer centers now, a senior VP of IBM (NYSE: IBM) said.

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), the No. 1 computer company, said it will merge its PC with its printers unit, amid other internal changes ordered by new CEO Meg Whitman.

International Business Machines launched on Tuesday three services to help companies sift and understand so-called big data, hoping to get some of the $120 billion or more that businesses are expected to invest in data analytics by 2015.

Shares of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) rose 2 percent in pre-market trading after the No. 1 database developer reported third-quarter results that beat estimates.They fell later.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Wednesday are: L&L Energy, FSI International, Hartford Financial Services, Tecumseh Products, Oracle Corp, Bank of America Corp, Baker Hughes, Perfect World Co, Halliburton Co and ARIAD Pharmaceuticals.

Oracle Corp beat Wall Street's earnings estimates as new software sales came in at the high end of the company's forecast, offsetting a sharp drop in hardware revenue.

Technology giant Oracle Corp said quarterly sales of new software rose 7 percent from a year earlier to $2.4 billion, at the high end of its own forecast.

Things got awkward in Oakland for the Warriors' brass.

Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook, moving swiftly after taking over from late Silicon Valley icon Steve Jobs, fulfilled a longstanding desire of investors by initiating a quarterly dividend and share buyback that will pay out $45 billion over three years.

QuestBack, a fast-growing Norwegian developer of feedback software, is making a play for the U.S. market by opening an office and beefing up local personnel.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), the No. 3 software developer and No. 1 in databases, is scheduled to report third-quarter results Tuesday. Last quarter, it missed estimates and the shares plunged 15 percent, shaving as much as $5.3 billion from the net worth of CEO Larry Ellison.

Top-tier technology companies including Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), IBM (NYSE: IBM), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT), among others, all buy back shares. Qualcomm and Applied Materials have just refreshed their buyback programs and hiked their dividends, too.