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Alibaba Pictures Group Ltd , the film and entertainment unit of China's largest ecommerce company, said on Thursday it plans to raise $1.6 billion in a share offering to select investors to finance media-related acquisitions. Alibaba Pictures plans to sell 4.2 billion shares at HK$2.90 each, putting the total deal at HK$12.18 billion ($1.57 billion), according to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Alibaba Pictures, previously known as ChinaVision Media Group, is flush with cash after raising nearly 5 billion yuan ($807 million) in 2014 from a massive share offering that put Alibaba in control of the company.

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By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. tech firm Disconnect has filed a complaint to EU antitrust regulators against Google's ban on its privacy app, accusing the Silicon Valley giant of abusing its dominant market position. Disconnect, set up four years ago by former Google engineers, says its app protects users of the Android operating system from invisible tracking and malware distributed through advertisements. It said Google had abused its position by blocking the app from the Google Play store last year, and had gained an unfair advantage over competitors by integrating its own privacy and security services into its own products.

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By John Ruwitch PUTIAN, China (Reuters) – Criticized and even sued by luxury brand Gucci and others for facilitating the counterfeit goods trade, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has been quietly piloting a scheme to try to curb fakes at source. In the coastal city of Putian, in Fujian province, Alibaba is working with 17 shoe manufacturers to cultivate home-grown brands online, revitalize a flagging industry and offer would-be counterfeiters an alternative source of livelihood. Critics say the scheme is misguided and Alibaba should instead focus on scrubbing its online marketplaces of widespread listings of fakes.

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Canadian e-commerce software maker Shopify Inc's shares rose as much as 69 percent in their U.S. debut, valuing the company at about $2.14 billion. Shopify, which also debuted on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, is the first Canadian company to be listed on a U.S. exchange this year. Ottawa-based Shopify helps small- and medium-sized retailers set up their online stores for a monthly subscription fee of $29-$179.

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By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) – A group of luxury goods makers sued Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Friday, contending the Chinese online shopping giant had knowingly made it possible for counterfeiters to sell their products throughout the world. The lawsuit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and other brands owned by Paris-based Kering SA seeking damages and an injunction for alleged violations of trademark and racketeering laws. The lawsuit alleged that Alibaba had conspired to manufacture, offer for sale and traffic in counterfeit products bearing their trademarks without their permission. Unfortunately, Kering Group has chosen the path of wasteful litigation instead of the path of constructive cooperation.

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(Reuters) – Internet search company Google Inc's self-driving cars have been involved in 11 accidents, but have not been the cause of any, over the last six years since the project began, the program's director said on Monday. “…Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident,” Chris Urmson said in a post on technology news website Backchannel's blog Medium.

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By Sumeet Chatterjee MUMBAI (Reuters) – Global investment banks are scrambling to get a piece of the action from India's booming technology start-ups, having missed out on the initial flurry of deal-making to their better-connected but much smaller domestic rivals. Banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are looking to hire more bankers in India and are now regularly attending “bake-offs” to pitch for advisory roles on deals, according to several banking industry sources. Foreign money has been pouring into India's fast-growing e-commerce sector, with investors ranging from Japan's Softbank Corp to Singapore's Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] and GIC Private Ltd [GIC.UL] piling in. Many large global investment banks have stayed away from work in the emerging sector though due to the relatively small deal sizes.

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Many of the tech world's top executives filled a 1,700-seat auditorium at Stanford University to commemorate David Goldberg, chief executive of SurveyMonkey. “We had 11 truly joyful years of the deepest love, happiest marriage, and truest partnership that I could imagine,” Sandberg posted on Facebook. On their way out, guests were offered Minnesota Vikings baseball caps as a reminder of the Minneapolis-born Goldberg's lighthearted nature and love of sports, according to a person who attended the service and who declined to be identified.