Jury orders Apple to pay $533 million in iTunes patent case

The world’s most valuable company was ordered by a federal jury to pay $532.9 million to Smartflash, a tiny Texas company that alleged that Apple willfully infringed on its intellectual property by using its patented technology in Apple’s iTunes software. Smartflash had filed its patent infringement complaint against Apple in May 2013. Smartflash had asked for 852 million US dollar in damages for Apple’s wilful infringement of the patents.

Six Indians named in Forbes list of 50 ‘Power Businesswomen’ in Asia

Six Indian women entrepreneurs and businesswomen have been named by Forbes magazine as among the 50 ‘Power Businesswomen’ from Asia. Women from a total of 16 Asian nations were represented on the list, which was released on February 25. Individuals from China and Hong Kong dominate with 14 candidates chosen, which includes Alibaba’s top female decision-makers Maggie Wu and Lucy Peng.

The list includes following Women from India:

  • Arundhati Bhattacharya– Chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI). Forbes list referred to her as the first lady of Indian banking and as chair of the Indian behemoth with 225 million customers.
  • Chanda Kochchar– MD & CEO of ICICI Bank. Forbes list referred to her as India’s second-most-powerful banker after Bhattacharya.
  • Akhila Srinivasan– MD of Shriram Capital.
  • Kiran Mazumdar Shaw– Chairman & MD of Biocon.
  • Shikha Sharma- CEO of Axis Bank.
  • Usha Sangwan– MD of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

Clemson University honoured Ratan Tata with Doctorate of Automotive Engineering

Ratan Tata was honoured on 26 February 2015 with an honorary Doctorate of Automotive Engineering by the Clemson University at the South Carolina Automotive Summit. He was awarded for his contributions to the global automotive industry.  He was named Chairman of Tata Industries in 1981, where he was responsible for transforming it into a group strategy think tank and a promoter of new ventures in high technology businesses.

Railway Budget 2015­-16: Major Initiatives

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented the Railway Budget 2015­-16 in the Lok Sabha. The major initiatives undertaken in the Railway Budget 2015­-16 are:-

Railway Fares:

  • No new hike in passenger fares while the freight fares have been raised in case of urea by 10%, iron and steel by 0.8%, kerosene and cooking gas by 0.8%, coal by 6.3% and cement by 2.7%.

Railway Finances:

  • Plan Budget is gone up by 52 percent to ₹ 1,00011 crore for financial year 2015-16 compared to ₹ 65,789 crore in FY 2014-15.
  • Next five year envisaged investment for railways is ₹ 8.5 lakh crore.
  • Railways to set up an infrastructure fund and holding company to raise long-term debt.
Passengers Amenities: 
  • 120 days in advance ticket booking facility for passengers instead of earlier 60 days.
  • 138 will be a nationwide 24×7 helpline number for railway-related queries. While, 182 will be a toll-free number for security-related issues.
  • Open Wi-fi facility at 400 railway stations.

Infrastructure

  • Track capacity will be increased by 10% to 1.38 lakh km.
  • Speed of 9 rail corridors to be improved to 160-200 kmph from current 110-130 kmph.