The FBI is investigating whether groups of people are driving up prices on eBay and other Internet auction sites by bidding on each others’ items, it was reported Wednesday.

In an unprecedented joint action, three US video games makers have sued Yahoo, alleging that it created a marketplace for the sale of illegal and counterfeit videogame products. In the first action to be brought by members of the interactive entertainment industry against an online retailer, Sega, Nintendo and Electronic Arts have filed the suit in the Northern California District Court. They allege that counterfeit versions of their best-selling games are being sold in Yahoo!’s auction area and by online retailers leasing space on the Santa Clara’s company site.

In a ruling that could give the music industry a weapon against Internet piracy, a court said Wednesday that America Online is responsible when users swap bootleg music files on its service. The case before a Bavarian state court in Munich originated with Hit Box Software, a German company that sued AOL Germany for copyright violation in 1998 after discovering that its digital music files were being exchanged on the online service. An attorney for Hit Box, Stefan Ventroni, hailed the ruling as an important step toward giving musicians better protection against unauthorized use of their performances on the Internet.

National online apartment guide Apartments.com has kicked off a search for the messiest college apartment in the U.S. with the first "Apartments.com Messiest College Apartment Contest," which will award $10,000 for rent and a thorough apartment cleaning to the most blatant example of out-of-control clutter, neglect and filth. As a bonus, the grand-prize winner will also receive $2,000 in e-bucks to spend on auctions.com, the world's fastest-growing online auction network and sister site of Apartments.com.