Google negotiators this weekend continue to hammer out agreements with wireless carriers, handset makers, software developers and hardware providers, as the company prepares to announce on Monday an ambitious platform for creating mobile applications.

Intel Corp. said Monday it plans to buy a US$218.5 million stake in the software firm VMware Inc., bolstering the companies' existing agreement to run VMware's virtualization software on Intel's processors.

Under a licensing agreement in its final stages, consumers may get the right to make several legal copies of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies they've purchased, a concession by the movie industry that may quell criticism that DRM (digital rights management) technologies are too restrictive.

Microsoft Corp. entered into a broad patent licensing agreement with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. aimed at speeding product development efforts for both companies, they said Thursday.

Cisco Systems Inc. and Apple Inc. have settled a dispute over rights to use the iPhone name. Under terms of the agreement, both companies have the right to use the name.

Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have reached a basic agreement to build a new US$2 billion manufacturing line for LCD (liquid crystal display) panels, the companies said Monday.

Symantec Corp. Friday said it has reached an out-of-court agreement in its adware lawsuit against New York-based Hotbar.com Inc. The deal calls for Symantec to dismiss its suit, but continue to classify Hotbar's program files as low-risk adware.