It's suing Taiwan mobile phone manufacturer HTC, a Google partner, for patent infringement on its Android-based phones.

An expletive-laced response to a theater-goer's legitimate gripes about her Saturday-night-at-the-movies experience has erupted into a social-networking war, Jim Anderson reports. In an email this morning, NY Sports Journalism's managing editor Barry Janoff fittingly recalls the simpler days of arrogant consumer relations on this 163rd anniversary of the birth of Alexander Graham Bell. "Next time you complain about your phone service, why don't you try using two Dixie cups with a string," Lily "Ernestine" Tomlin responded to an unseen customer in a famous routine. "We don't care. We don't have to. …

Pulling through Middle East intrigue and the collapse of global financial markets, Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris is remaking his company for the 21st century, Jaclyn Trop reports. Much of Dow's recent success has come from decisive financial moves and restructuring, she reports, but underlying the effort is a return to basics as a company based on science and innovation. "This is the face of Dow moving forward," says Dow spokesman Bob Plishka. "Things consumers can see, touch and feel." Business is growing in emerging markets including India, Africa and the Middle East. Thanks to its …

Columnist Mark Phelan writes that Ford's stunning 43.4% sales increase last month -- more than three times as strong as the industry's overall 13.3% growth -- has less to do with Toyota's pratfall or General Motor's restructuring than it does with a strong new vehicle lineup. "Ford is really on a roll," IHS Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman tells Phelan. "This is the payoff to years of investment and restructuring. Ford is only going to get stronger this year as more strong new vehicles arrive." Ford outsold General Motors by 429 vehicles …

Starbucks is testing iced teas and iced coffees in a 31-ounce container -- a size it calls "Trenta" -- in Phoenix and Tampa. The coffees cost $3.30; the teas $2.60. Starbucks' current largest size for iced drinks is a 24-ounce "Venti" cup. It also uses 20-ounce "Venti" cups for hot coffee and other beverages. Lisa Baertlein points out that the limited market test comes as some McDonald's outlets around the country are offering a 32-ounce sweet tea for $1 in a bid to attract super-sized drink mavens.

The Alliance for a Healthier New York is running ads urging New Yorkers to support a proposed sugar tax with the sentiment that "for just a few extra pennies we can reduce obesity, diabetes and heart disease and stop devastating health-care cuts in Albany," Natalie Zmuda reports. The American Beverage Association is countering with TV, print and radio ads that point out that the tax would be a burden on consumers. Some ads claims that the price of beverage products would go up by 50%; in a TV spot, the owner of a Bronx supermarket talks about how his …

Progressive CEO and president Glenn Renwick thanked Bloomenkranz for his contributions in a statement but said he "determined that we need a change in the leadership of our internal marketing group." The move does not signal a change in the company's marketing strategies or branding efforts, according to Renwick.

Augie Turak's dad used to pay his utility bills in person in order to invest the money he saved in stamps. The same parsimonious attitude has characterized Turak's career in marketing, he writes, and nothing garnered praise and a bonus faster in his company than "a creative marketing 'win' that didn't require cash."