Last week's ratification of the Durbin Amendment by U.S. lawmakers seemed to put Visa (V) on edge, with the credit card company now facing the prospect of curtailed interchange fees. (Of course, the firm's written statement cited concerns about potential harm to consumers -- a nice touch.)

So, with the forecast looking gloomy on the home front, perhaps it's no surprise that Visa is now trying to woo another major world power. According to Japan's The Nikkei, Visa "will urge the Japanese government to use credit cards for all of its purchases, from stationery items to parts for fighter jets, saying it would save the country a lot of money."

Goldman Sachs (GS) is plotting its legal defense against the SEC's charges, and the point man is co-general counsel Greg Palm.

So far Palm's legal strategy is to place all the blame on one employee: Fabrice Tourre. In a statement, Palm said: "If we had evidence that someone here was trying to mislead someone, that's not something we'd continue at all and we'd be the first to take action."

In the 2004 counterfeit goods lawsuit brought against online auction giant eBay (EBAY) by Tiffany & Co. (TIF), a New York appeals court has ruled in favor of eBay. The suit stemmed from an independent investigation conducted by Tiffany, where an investigatory sampling determined that more than 70% of supposed Tiffany items on eBay were found to be fakes. Tiffany maintains that eBay bears responsibility for cleaning out those counterfeit items.

Yes, eBay bears some responsibility in this matter, but that responsibility begins and ends at the removal of offending listings when they are reported or discovered. Any random examination of listings by eBay for potential rule violations or illegal activities falls under the heading of good faith, not due diligence.

A Shanghai court early Monday decided that four Rio Tinto (RTP) employees were guilty of accepting bribes and stealing state secrets.

According to reports, Australian national Stern Hu received 10 years in prison, Wang Yong received 14 years, Ge Minqiang was sentenced to eight years, and Liu Caikui was sentenced to seven years. There were also some fines for Hu associated with the charges. All four of the accused plead guilty to bribery, but argued the size of the bribes offered.

As with just about every impact of the financial crisis on the insurance industry, the increase in securities class action lawsuit settlements wasn't as bad as the industry expected.

According to a study by Stanford Law School and Cornerstone Research, settlements grew only 39% year over year in 2009. Insurers and reinsurers writing directors and officers insurance in the U.S. are probably relieved to see that the reality didn't reach what they feared. The number could tick higher, though, as these cases work their way through the court system.

Viacom is now being blamed for secretly uploading copyright infringing content by YouTube's chief counsel, Zahavah Levine. This announcement comes as the court prepares to render a decision in the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit Viacom (VIA) brought against Google's (GOOG) Internet video giant, YouTube.

Attorney Levine has stated in a blog post: "For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there."

In a long standing court battle between the media and the Fed, a decision to release bail out documents was handed down by the US Court of Appeals.

Last year, two reporters from Bloomberg News filed for disclosure of the documents under the Freedom of Information Act. Later a similar suit was filed by Fox News. The Fed countered that such information would cause "competitive and reputational harm" perhaps triggering bank runs and implode the central bank's ability to effectively manage the current and any future financial crisis.