In short

A roundup of today's other stories in brief.

Legal setback for Sony music downloads

A French court has ruled that Sony is misleading buyers of its music downloads and digital music players, a reflection of growing discontent among consumers with the closed-shop model also favoured by Apple and Microsoft.

The judgment, delivered in December, ordered Sony France to make clear on the packaging of its music players that they would only play songs downloaded from Sony's own Connect music store and to publish the court's findings on its home page.

Que Choisir, the consumer association that launched the case in 2005, has taken similar action against Apple, whose iTunes music store sells songs that can only easily be played on iPods. - (Financial Times service)

Fyffes spin-off in €13.5m land deal

Fyffes property spin-off Blackrock International Land has invested €13.5 million in land close to Dublin.

The property company said yesterday that the land is currently unzoned. However, it may have development potential as industrial land.

A company spokesman declined to disclose the exact location of the land.

This acquisition brings the company's total investments since floating on Dublin's IEX exchange and London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last May to €155.5 million. This represents an 80 per cent increase in the company's gross property assets.

Investec net £19m in London sale

Investec Ireland's wealth management unit achieved a sale price of £19 million (€28.1 million) on behalf of an Irish investment syndicate through the sale of a property at 2 Seething Lane in London.

The sale represented a gain of 125 per cent on the equity invested over three and a half years since the property was purchased in May 2003.

Experts warn on chip and pin flaw

Experts yesterday warned they had found a way of doctoring chip and pin machines to make them read customers' confidential credit card details.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge said they were able to control their "versions" of the machine and copy pin numbers and account details.

To prove the readers were under their command, the experts posted a video on the internet showing the machine playing a computer game. The UK payments association Apacs sought to reassure consumers that shoppers were not at risk.

A spokeswoman said: "We wouldn't dispute what Cambridge University has demonstrated but this cannot be replicated on the high street." - (PA)

Alitalia may sell non-core assets

Loss-making Italian airline Alitalia said yesterday it would discuss shedding its non-strategic assets at its next board meeting later this month.

The airline, in which the Italian government is selling off its controlling stake, said it would also discuss an analysis of its financial needs for the next year at the meeting.

Separately, the airline also reported net debt was down less than 1 per cent at the end of November from a month earlier.

The company's net debt, on a group level, stood at €964 million at the end of November.

The Italian government has opened the bidding process for the sale of at least 30.1 per cent of its 49.9 per cent stake. No leading bidders have emerged so far. - (Reuters)