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There seems to be a few cities in Texas that want the online travel industry to ante up millions of dollars in lost tax revenues - and there is a possibility this could move to the other states. Houston and San Antonio - guess Dallas would be next if the decider is towns with NBA teams - have filed suit against online travel companies for not paying the right amount of occupancy taxes dues.

“Hotels in Houston must remit to the city the hotel-occupancy tax of 7 percent, based on the price at which they sell rooms. The city uses the money to promote tourism and to pay off debt for Reliant Stadium, Toyota Center, Minute Maid Park and the Hilton Americas convention hotel”.

‘The city took in more than $57 million in the occupancy taxes in 2007,” a Houston City official told the Houston Chronicle.

“On Tuesday, a federal judge granted San Antonio’s motion for class-action certification in its lawsuit against 16 companies including Hotels.com, Expedia.com, Priceline.com and Orbitz. The San Antonio suit alleges the online companies collect hotel tax at the retail rate but only pay taxes on the bulk wholesale rate they are charged, ” WebProNews reported

Obviously the travel industry is claiming increased costs will have an impact on tourism. That is absolutely true, while the local governement may not collect the taxes and does lose - the money comes in the pockets of those who visit and thus the average spend of the customers will be less. So maybe the local chamber of commerces should think about that and talk to the mayor.

Bookings will be down slightly because of higher prices - even though the prices will just increase across the board so people will not recognize the jump. Either way in a time of high gas prices actions like this will only hurt the travel industry as a whole. There are not many travel agencies left and few would be looking to invest in one right now.

Yahoo has confirmed that billionaire investor Carl Icahn has initiated a proxy fight via an open letter to Yahoo’s board of directors notifying them of his intention to replace the existing board with his own slate of directors.

The proposed board includes: Harvard Law Professor Lucian Bebchuk; Frank J. Biondi, Jr., senior managing director of WaterView Advisors; John Chapple, president of Hawkeye Investments; investor and NBA team owner Mark Cuban; Adam Dell, managing general partner of Impact Venture Partners; Carl Icahn; Keith Meister, principal executive officer and vice chairman of the board of Icahn Enterprises G.P.; Edward H. Meyer, chairman, CEO and chief investment officer of Ocean Road Advisors; private investor Brian S. Posner; and Robert Shaye, co-chairman and co-CEO of New Line Cinema.

The full text of Icahn’s letter is after the jump.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Google has been busy on the legal, tech and policy front lately, and there’s a primary theme running through all of their pursuits: Google loves wide open spaces.

First up, as is being widely reported, Clearwire and Spring are combining their wifi and broadband services. But did you know Google is one of the companies behind the $3.2 billion deal? They’ve teamed with Comcast, Intel Capital, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Trilogy Equity Partners to create the new company.

Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum is part of the deal. And spectrum is something at the top of Google’s wish list lately. Google didn’t win any of its bids on a recent FCC spectrum auction. And last week, Google raised concern that Verizon will not keep its spectrum auction space open afterall.

Google is also facing resistance to its plan for “white spaces.” Several sports groups including the NFL, NBA and NASCAR are now lobbying the FCC to not open up “white spaces” on TV spectrum. Google wants them opened up for wireless. The groups are concerned about signal interference for things like coaching headsets and referee microphones.

In a different kind of open battle, Google is saying that it won’t settle a lawsuit brought by Viacom over copyrighted material, according to Business Week. David Eun, vice president in Content Partnerships at Google told Dow Jones newswires that they plan to go all the way to the Supreme Court with the case. Viacom brought the $1 billion suit after the two companies couldn’t reach a licensing agreement for content on YouTube.

Whether it’s content or spectrum, Google wants to keep things out in the open. They’re going to great lengths to make it happen, and while corporations may not be thrilled, consumers are likely to be happy should Google meet its open goals.

Related Reading:
Google’s New Wifi Push Will Drive Mobile Search

Hulu, the video search engine for copyrighted and trademarked entertainment, will premiere Wednesday.

It will be a minor Internet miracle if the GE-NewsCorp JV Web site can keep up with online demand and search engine searchers.

Get ready for the Invasion of the YouTube Snatchers. The iPod people are coming … and their PC’ed.

Are you searching for The Simpsons?

Can’t find The Big Lebowski?

Is Buffy the Vampire Slayer in your database of intentions?

Do you need to do a local search for Mulholland Drive? Can’t find it on Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Eath or on YouTube (legally)?

Hulu promises to run hoops around YouTube. The NBA and the NHL will deliver sports programming.

News Corp, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. and Lionsgate will showcase films.

There’s even a SuperBowl Ad Gallery for the search marketers ready to take over TV budgets and bounce traditional advertising agencies from the upfronts.

No doubt YouTube will feel pressure to protect copyrights and clean up trademark infringement.

The message from Hulu? Monetize this.

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NBA [...]

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