The European Commission said Wednesday it has asked the EU's highest court to rule on the legality of a controversial treaty covering copyright, counterfeiting and Internet freedom.

The EU executive "decided today to ask the European Court of Justice for a legal opinion to clarify that the ACTA agreement and its implementation must be fully compatible with freedom of expression and freedom of the internet," said a statement.

Apple Inc. defended its right to use the iPad trademark in China in a heated court hearing Wednesday that pitted the electronics giant against a struggling Chinese electronics company that denies having sold the mainland China rights to the popular tablet computer's name.

Shenzhen Proview Technology's lawyer Xie Xianghui argued that the sale of the iPad trademark to an Apple subsidiary by Proview's Taiwan affiliate in 2009 was invalid. Apple countered that Proview violated the sales contract by failing to transfer the trademark rights in mainland China.

Iran's authorities this week launched a new, sophisticated offensive against the Internet, stifling Gmail and other messaging services and totally blocking software that provides secure browsing.

The severe clampdown has prompted an outcry by media, businesses, students and private web users, and has even provoked criticism within the regime.

French preschoolers near Bordeaux are posting daily updates to the micro-blogging website Twitter, despite not yet knowing how to read or write.

Since the start of the school year, the 29 schoolchildren have posted short messages of 140 characters or less about a daily activity to their joint Twitter feed, which has 89 followers, most of them parents.

Greek police said Monday they had arrested an 18-year-old suspected of hacking into the justice ministry's website earlier this month, an attack claimed on behalf of online hackers group Anonymous.

Two other boys aged 16 and 17 were also being sought over the case, police said.

Sony is intensifying its push in handheld gaming with a gadget aimed at hardcore players looking for something with a bit more punch than "Angry Birds," ''Words With Friends" and other smartphone pastimes.

The PlayStation Vita, already available in Japan, debuts in the U.S. and Europe on Wednesday. A basic, Wi-Fi version will retail at $250, while one that can access 3G cellular networks will go for $300 plus monthly service fees from AT&T.

Russia's top search engine Yandex has teamed up with Twitter to allow the Russian firm to show the full feed of all public Twitter posts.

New York-listed Yandex said in a statement Tuesday that the deal will give it full access to all tweets except for private ones.

YouTube is enlisting Hollywood's help to reach a generation of viewers more familiar with smartphones than TV remotes.

The online video giant is aiming to create 25 hours of programming per day with the help of some of the top names in traditional TV. The Google-owned site is spreading its wealth among producers, directors, and other filmmakers, using a $100 million pot of seed money it committed last fall. The fund represents YouTube's largest spending on original content so far.

Young people want their music, TV and movies now — even if it means they get these things illegally.

A recent Columbia University survey found, in fact, that 70 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds said they had bought, copied or downloaded unauthorized music, TV shows or movies, compared with 46 percent of all adults who'd done the same.

Researchers in Australia said on Sunday they had made with pinpoint accuracy a working transistor consisting of a single atom, marking a major stride towards next-generation computing.

The device comprises a single phosphorus atom, etched into a silicon bed, with "gates" to control electrical flow and metallic contacts that are also on the atomic scale.