ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A federal judge on Friday ordered a permanent injunction against Internet phone carrier Vonage for use of rival Verizon Communications Inc.'s patents.

But the injunction, which could potentially cause major disruptions to the service provided by Vonage to its 2 million customers, will not take effect for at least two weeks. U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton said he will wait two weeks to officially enter the injunction while he considers Vonage's request for an extended stay.

The injunction came after a jury verdict earlier this month that Vonage — a leader in the Internet phone marketplace known as Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP — infringed on three Verizon patents.

The jury awarded Verizon $58 million plus 5.5 percent of Vonage's future revenue garnered from continued infringement of the patents, but Hilton ruled that the additional measure of a permanent injunction was warranted.

MORGAN STANLEY TO SPIN OFF DISCOVER CARD

NEW YORK — Morgan Stanley announced Friday its long-expected plans to spin off its Discover credit card operations in an initial public offering.

It was not immediately known how much the nation's second-largest investment house expected to raise from the IPO, which Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Mack had promised would be undertaken after he took the leadership at Morgan Stanley in June 2005.

Discover, which recently announced a new version of its cards, called Motiva, is the fourth-largest debit and credit card network, after Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

SALES RISE IN FEBRUARY FOR EXISTING HOMES

WASHINGTON — Sales of existing homes rose in February by the largest amount in nearly three years, but worsening troubles in subprime mortgages were viewed as a roadblock to a full-fledged rebound.

The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that existing home sales climbed 3.9 percent last month, pushed higher by a milder-than-normal winter that boosted sales in areas of the country such as the Northeast.

It was the biggest one-month gain since March 2004 and left sales at an annual rate of 6.69 million units, a pace that was still 3.6 percent below a year ago.

Even with the improvement in sales, the median price of a home kept falling, dropping to $212,800 in February, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier. It marked a record seventh straight decline in prices compared to the same month a year earlier.

OIL PRICES SOAR ABOVE $62 A BARREL

NEW YORK — Oil prices jumped above $62 a barrel Friday and gasoline futures continued to surge as unrest in the Middle East and Nigeria helped vault front-month crude prices to their highest level since December.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained 59 cents to settle at $62.28 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier climbing as high as $62.65. The rise follows a surge of more than $2 on Thursday, after U.S. government figures showed refineries are boosting crude usage to make gasoline and other products.

The May contract for Brent crude added 67 cents to $63.18 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange.

At the top of the list was Britain's Ministry of Defense saying Iranian naval vessels seized 15 British sailors and marines in disputed Persian Gulf waters off the coast of Iraq. The detentions come at a time of high tension between the West and Iran, which accused the British of intruding on its territory.

RISING FORECLOSURES AFFECT FREDDIE MAC

WASHINGTON — Rising foreclosures slightly dented the quality of Freddie Mac's holdings last year, the mortgage finance giant said Friday as it reported a slight increase in profit to $2.2 billion.

Freddie Mac's chief executive foresees some degree of economic contagion in the future from the turmoil in the high-risk mortgage market.

The government-sponsored company, emerging from an accounting scandal, also said it lost $480 million in the fourth quarter as a result of moves in interest rates that hurt its business of guaranteeing home loans.

The loss at Freddie Mac, which is the second-largest buyer and guarantor of home mortgages in the country, compared to profit of $684 million in the October-December period of 2005.

Amid the deteriorating market for so-called subprime mortgages — higher-priced loans targeted to borrowers with tarnished credit or low incomes — Freddie Mac said last month that it will no longer buy those that it deems to be the most vulnerable to foreclosure.

RULING COMING SOON ON '.XXX' DOMAIN

NEW YORK — Online pornographers and religious groups are in a rare alliance as a key Internet oversight agency nears a decision on creating a virtual red-light district through a ".xxx" Internet address.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, which has already rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, planned to vote as early as next week on whether to approve the domain name for voluntary use by porn sites.

The decision ultimately could hinge on whether ".xxx" has the support of the adult-entertainment industry — and many porn sites have been strongly opposed.

Porn sites are largely concerned that the domain name, while billed as voluntary, would make it easier for governments to later mandate its use and "essentially ghettoize sexual information on the Web," Kernes said.

DAIMLERCHRYSLER SHARES HIT NEW HIGH

DETROIT — Shares of DaimlerChrysler AG pushed to a new 52-week high on Friday as speculation swirled that a Canadian auto supplier and a private equity partner would bid for Chrysler, the German company's ailing U.S. arm.

KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brett Hoselton said in a note to investors that his sources, whom he did not identify or describe, tell him that Canadian auto supplier Magna International Inc. and a private equity partner have written a joint letter offering to buy Chrysler for $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion.

The talk comes as investors, markets, employees and suppliers have been itching to find out who will buy Chrysler. There have been constant rumors that one suitor or the other will soon make a multibillion dollar bid.