In brief: Triumph, union reach pact
Triumph Composite Systems and the union representing its 43 Spokane engineers have reached a tentative contract agreement that will provide bonuses and wage increases, cap medical premiums and bar layoffs through September 2013.
Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace will vote on the agreement today.
Terms include a bonus of the greater of 6 percent or $4,000 in the first year, and $2,300 in the second and third years of the 39-month pact. Salaries will increase 1 percent the first year, 2 percent the second and 3 percent the third. Medical premiums can rise only 24 percent over the life of the contract.
With overtime, said SPEEA Director of Strategic Development Rich Plunkett, some members are taking home six-figure salaries.
Triumph makes ducts, floor panels and other components for aircraft makers.
Bert Caldwell
Auntie’s to open second shop
Downtown Spokane bookseller Auntie’s Bookstore will expand into River Park Square in mid-July, said owner Chris O’Harra.
It will continue to run its larger Spokane store, at 402 W. Main, as it takes over the 3,000-square-foot, second-floor space last used by Children’s Corner Books.
O’Harra said mall management persuaded Auntie’s to make the move in part to reach a younger audience. To attract shoppers in the 18- to 34-year-old group, the store will carry magazines, greeting cards and trendy, book-themed T-shirts, in addition to a modified version of the main store’s selections, O’Harra said.
The bookshop signed a three-year lease with the mall, which is owned by Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.
Tom Sowa
Google wins copyright dispute
SAN FRANCISCO – A federal judge handed Google Inc. a major victory Wednesday by rebuffing media company Viacom Inc.’s attempt to collect more than $1 billion in damages for the alleged copyright abuses of Google’s popular YouTube service.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in New York embraces Google’s interpretation of a 12-year-old law that shields Internet services from claims of copyright infringement as long as they promptly remove illegal content when notified of a violation.
That so-called “safe harbor” helped persuade Google to buy YouTube for $1.76 billion in 2006, even though some of the Internet search leader’s own executives had earlier branded the video-sharing service as “a ‘rogue enabler’ of content theft,” according to documents unearthed in the copyright infringement case.
Associated Press
Briefcase
From wire reports
•Japan’s exports expanded for a sixth straight month in May as brisk global demand for cars and high-tech products helped shore up a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy. Exports rose 32.1 percent from a year earlier.
•Nike Inc. earned $522 million, or $1.06 per share, for the quarter as revenue and margins improved. That’s up 53 percent from $341.4 million, or 70 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
•Cisco Systems Inc. said it will invest $1 billion to help foster high-tech innovation in Russia. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was visiting the computer networking equipment manufacturer as part of a tour of Silicon Valley.
•Verizon Wireless said Wednesday that it will begin selling the Droid X, the follow-up to Motorola Inc.’s popular Droid smart phone, on July 15.
•Independent music licensing company Rumblefish Inc. is giving YouTube uploaders a way to add songs to their videos without infringing on copyrights. The company will sell songs from its catalog of artists for $1.99. The cost includes a license allowing the video creator to use the music legally. The video can’t be used to make money.