Palm swung to $25.2 million net loss in 2nd quarter from $20.2 million profit year ago as sales plunged to $290.5 million from $522.1 million. Loss included $24.2 million charge for restructuring that included severance ($13.5 million) to cover layoffs of 250 employees and real estate consolidation costs ($10.7 million).

JAKKS Pacific entered into distribution agreement with Funtastic Ltd., Australian-based distributor of toys and other products, specifics not disclosed. Commenting on deal, Jakks COO Stephen Berman said: “Based on our growth to date, we believe that we are now ready to focus on global expansion for our popular products. Our relationship with Funtastic will permit us to develop a real presence in Australia and New Zealand for our lines.” He added: “We are committed to implementing initiatives that will increase international sales for Jakks, and we believe this new agreement will prove to be a winning combination.” Malibu, Cal.-based Jakks makes toys and videogames. Company also operates joint venture with THQ that has exclusive worldwide rights to publish and market World Wrestling Federation videogames.

H.A. Wagner appointed Agere Systems chmn., succeeding John Young, who remains a dir.

Tokyo Dist. Court dismissed suit alleging that Cree distributor Sumitomo had infringed on LED patents held by Nichia, Cree said. Suit, directed at Cree’s high-brightness LEDs and some of its low-current products, sought injunction to bar their sale in Japan, Cree said. Decision, handed down by 3-judge panel Thurs., found that products didn’t infringe on its patents, Cree said. Cree, which had intervened in case, argued that products utilized structure that was “fundamentally different” from invention claimed in Nichia’s patent. Cree CEO Chuck Swoboda said court decision “lends further support to our long-standing belief” that company’s silicon carbide-based LEDs differed in “significant ways from our competitors.”

Clarification: Nuwave Technologies Mktg. Dir. David Zarin told us strategic alliance with CE accessory distributor/manufacturer Gemini Industries for latter to distribute and market Nuwave’s Video Game Enhancer (VGE) in N. America (CED Dec 20 p7) offered 2 main benefits for his company: “We now have access to over 17,000 retail storefronts that Gemini has in their customer base that we previously didn’t have access to. Some of those include Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Circuit City… The 2nd benefit is that by giving the license to the product to Gemini, it enables us to refocus our resources and our assets more on developing new technologies into new products to introduce into the marketplace.” Gemini, which already sells products under Magnavox, Philips and Zenith brands, placed initial VGE order consisting of combination of existing finished goods inventory and Nuwave’s proprietary application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips, for total of 25,000 units in 2001 with guaranteed annual quotas over next 5 years. Nuwave CEO Jerry Zarin told us quotas would be set at “a fixed amount.”

Rent-Way (RW), struggling to right itself after accounting scandal, said 4th-quarter loss narrowed to $25.4 million from $31.7 million year ago as it pared inventory to make push in high-definition-ready TVs. Loss included $18.1 million in charges, $10.5 million of them for restructuring that involved closing 45 stores. Chain has shut another 15 stores since quarter closed Sept. 30. Charges also covered $1.8 million related to investigation into accounting scandal that broke last fall and resulted in chain’s having to restate earnings for previous 3 fiscal years.

NPDFunworld said Wed. that total U.S. videogame industry -- including hardware, software and accessories -- generated $6.4 billion revenue through Nov., compared with $4.7 billion in same period year ago. Despite what NPDFunworld called “substantial growth” in overall game industry, Port Washington, N.Y., market information provider said next-generation systems -- including Dreamcast, GameCube, PS2 and Xbox -- took in largest amount of revenue, showing 436% increase in dollar sales in year.

Sony will host 2-day conference for its Memory Stick digital storage format in Hong Kong next month to push format for wider adoption beyond its own products, company said. Memory Stick got boost this year when SanDisk agreed to sell flash memory under its brand. Some CE manufacturers also have adopted Memory Stick for their AV products, but Compact Flash, Secure Digital and Smart Media remain strong competitors in memory market.

Kurt Praschak, 15-year veteran at Matsushita/Panasonic P.R. in U.S., leaves today on early retirement plan offer… Colin Newnham, Ultralife Batteries managing dir.-U.K., advanced to European Operations vp-managing dir.; Patrick Hanna, dir.- corporate business planning, promoted to vp-corporate business strategy.

Purported pirate DVD of Disney movie whose picture vanished after few plays was demonstrated by British official on popular TV show there last week -- but as of Wed. neither official, show’s producers nor studio could shed any light on disappearing act that might have been staged and mistaken.