Business news in brief

A federal civil lawsuit claims a major pharmaceutical company misrepresented clinical data and used sham litigation to maintain a monopoly over a drug used to treat depression and anxiety. Uniondale Chemists Inc., a retail pharmacy in Uniondale, N.Y., filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Mississippi against Wyeth L.L.C., now part of Pfizer Inc. Pfizer denied the allegations, saying it stands behind "its Effexor XR portfolio, which represents an important innovation in the treatment of depression and anxiety and has benefited millions of patients." - AP

Money fund rates mixed

The average seven-day yield on taxable money-market funds was 0.02 percent this week, the same as last week, said iMoneyNet Inc. A seven-day yield is an annual yield based on the preceding seven days' level of income by the fund. The average for tax-free funds was 0.01 percent, down from 0.02 percent last week. - Reid Kanaley

Facebook introduces Skype video

Facebook Inc. is offering free video calls over its site through a partnership with Skype Technologies SA. Facebook also said it has more than 750 million users, up from 500 million. Microsoft Corp., a longtime Facebook partner, is acquiring Skype in an $8.5 billion deal expected to close later this year. Adding video calls puts Facebook in competition with Apple Inc., which introduced the feature on its iPhone in June 2010, and with Google Inc., which offered Web calls through Gmail in August. Social-networking rivalry intensified last week when Google unveiled a new privacy-enhanced service, Google+, to compete with Facebook. - Bloomberg News