SAN FRANCISCO -- An Electronic Arts campaign against phishing to steal game “entitlements” has produced takedowns of 70 websites and 2,000 eBay auctions since December, a company lawyer said. Fake EA sites, violating copyrights, are used to con visitors out of virtual property they've bought, and then it’s sold on eBay, said Kerry Hopkins, EA senior intellectual-property director, at a forum on social media and IP. Whole teams that gamers have bought in connection with the company’s FIFA franchise have been hijacked, she said. The crimes take advantage of an industry trend toward microtransactions and entitlement sales using virtual “coins” and auctions, Hopkins said.

Dish Network’s recent S-band acquisition efforts aren’t part of “a grand strategy at this point,” said Dish CEO Charlie Ergen during its Q4 conference call Thursday. Dish recently agreed to buy bankrupt S-band licensee DBSD, though the deal still needs bankruptcy court approval. “I think spectrum has value,” Ergen said. Using that spectrum and acquiring more spectrum that fits together are both ways to increase the value of that spectrum, he said. The recent acquisition efforts have raised speculation among analysts that Ergen is planning a wireless network and/or seeking new ways to complement the core DBS business with Internet-delivered programming.

Changes to the retransmission consent process are likely in about a year, despite the FCC’s March 3 meeting where the agency will vote on a retrans rulemaking, said DirecTV CEO Mike White during the company’s Q4 earnings conference call. “Realistically, change comes slowly in this area in Washington, so while there is a hearing in March or they may talk about some things, I think you are a year away before you would see those things change.” DirecTV is part of the American Television Alliance, which seeks changes to retrans rules, and White discussed the issue in response to an analyst’s question.

Alleging “lack of transparency and openness” in the Ecos Consulting study that was the basis for the California Energy Commission’s proposed efficiency standards for battery chargers, appliance manufacturers urged the agency to abandon its pursuit of regulations because the Department of Energy is poised to adopt national standards for the devices. Under federal law, the DOE is required to complete its rulemaking on battery chargers by July and it’s “well in line with that timeline,” said the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM). CEA also has urged the CEC to give up its quest for state standards for battery chargers, saying it’s “unnecessary and wasteful” in light of the DOE’s rulemaking.

LAS VEGAS -- The arrival of passive 3D TVs this spring along with wider availability of content could provide a sales boost for the technology, but active sets’ better feature packages will likely continue to win over the all-important early adopters, dealers we polled at the Nationwide Marketing Group meeting said.

A conference call with journalists Wednesday did little to illuminate Russound’s about-face with the Colorado vNet brand. A leak from a dealer to an industry magazine for integrators last week revealed the company’s plans to resuscitate the Colorado vNet home control product line. The company announced in December it had decided to “discontinue shipping the Colorado vNet product line and wind down sales operations” (CED Dec 29 p1). At the time, Charlie Porritt, CEO of parent company Russound, said the company would reassess Colorado vNet product “as it relates to the evolving custom install market and focus on R&D for the future."

Registration for next week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco was “already at where we were last year” at the same time, Director Meggan Scavio told Consumer Electronics Daily on Tuesday. “We are definitely expecting to surpass last year,” she said. “I know it will be a record-breaking year,” but “just by how much we're not sure yet,” she said. About 18,000 people attended in 2010, she said.

Best Buy’s move to close its namesake stores in China caps a gradual pullback from the market that began not long after expansion plans were aired. The chain will take $225 million to $245 million in restructuring charges in fiscal 2011 and 2012 to close nine stores, including six in Shanghai and two in Turkey, the first of which opened in Izmir in late 2009, Best Buy said. The move will yield $60 million to $70 million in annual savings, the company said.

In the wake of Borders’ Chapter 11 filing last week, Barnes & Noble has suspended its dividend of 25 cents a share to pad its cash flow with $60 million and give the company “flexibility” to make quick investment decisions “as opportunities arise,” the company said in its fiscal Q3 2011 earnings webcast Tuesday. CEO William Lynch noted that Barnes & Noble had predicted “consolidation in the market” in brick-and-mortar stores and said the company doesn’t plan to shut stores besides the “nominal number” it previously announced. He said “a minority” of Borders’ 200 locations “appear attractive to us.”

LONDON -- 3D home entertainment will fail only “if there is a glut of bad content,” Amanda Hill, managing director of BBC Worldwide, said on a panel at last week’s Panasonic European Convention. “The theatric case for 3D is proven,” she said. “It’s three times more profitable. That’s why BBC Worldwide is leading on theatric release. TV is more about innovation and risk-taking. But everything is about risk. 3D is no more of a risk than anything else."