Samsung Electronics is gaining momentum in its patent battle with Apple after a U.S. court rejected the iPhone maker’s request for a preliminary injunction against the sale of its mobile devices.The South Korean tech giant scored the legal victory on Friday following a win in its appeal against a sales ban of its tablet PCs in Australia last week. Apple sued Samsung in the U.S. in April, saying Samsung’s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets “slavishly” copies its iPhone and iPad.But on Frida

Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-koo plans to offer educational support to students from low-income households, the automotive group said Sunday.Chung, who donated 500 billion won ($440 million) via the carmaker’s foundation for social activities last August, mapped out a program to support 84,000 underprivileged students over the next five years.The program involves comprehensive support for elementary, middle, high school and college students residing in farming and fishing villages across th

The “Korea Discount,” the amount by which foreign investors undervalue Korean stocks, stems largely from structural problems with the governance of the country’s major conglomerates, a brokerage said in a recent report. In a paper titled “2012 Korean Corporate Governance,” Tongyang Securities Inc. argued that governance problems had flared up in the last decade, during which the top five conglomerates saw their combined market capitalization jump from 28.4 percent to 44.9 percent. The report, ba

The government is considering cutting the growth forecast for next year to about 4 percent from the current 4.5 percent in light of the problems in Europe, officials said Sunday.A downward adjustment would track similar revisions at international institutions and local think tanks, where the consensus now stands at between 3.6 and 3.8 percent.“The changing trends in the global economy will be reflected,” said an official at the Finance Ministry. The ministry is widely expected to scale down its

Booyoung Group said Sunday it hosted a graduation ceremony for Sri Lankan primary school students last week as part of its social contribution activities.The construction-focused conglomerate said the South Asian country’s education ministry suggested that it hold the ceremony on Dec. 2 in the capital city of Colombo in recognition of its donation of 3,000 digital pianos and 30,000 blackboards last year. Later in the day, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse invited the Korean company’s chairm

Borrowing from secondary banking sector increasesKorea’s household debt is on track to exceed $1 trillion by 2013 due to growing spending tied to mortgage payments and daily necessities, fueling concerns about domestic financial fragility.Outstanding household credit, including loans from commercial banks and the secondary banking sector, rose to record high of 892.5 trillion won ($791 billion) at the end of October, up 45.6 trillion won or 5.4 percent from a year earlier, according to the Bank

Hanbul Motors CEO predicts eco-friendly technology to determine fate of automakersThe world’s first diesel-electric hybrid vehicle, developed by Peugeot and currently on sale in Europe, will likely be imported into the Korean market next year.Hanbul Motors Corp., the official importer and distributor of vehicles of France-based PSA Peugeot-Citroen, plans to launch the diesel-electric hybrid version of its 3008 crossover hatchback here.The Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 has been gaining popularity in the

Yuhan-Kimberly, Korea’s leading hygiene products maker, has won a presidential citation for its innovative efforts to protect consumer rights, the company said last week. The company was awarded the top honor in celebration of Consumer Rights Day, which falls on Dec. 3 every year. A joint venture of Korea’s Yuhan Corp. and U.S.-based Kimberly-Clark Corp., the company was established in 1971. Under the leadership of CEO Choe Kyoo-bok, who took office in 2010, the company is also striving to expan