The Dana Corporation said on Sunday that it had rejected a $2.7 billion takeover bid, the latest offer from a rival maker of auto parts, ArvinMeritor.

In March, Reebok agreed to buy Avia Group International Inc., a rival maker of aerobic shoes, for $180 million.

The Justice Department today extended its review of the Oracle Corporation's $6.3 billion hostile bid to acquire PeopleSoft, a rival maker of business software.

A surgeon in Phoenix, who used an estimated $400,000 in devices, favored a rival maker, Spinal Concepts, the spreadsheet said.

The CL series also saw the arrival of the panel van variant to compete with similar offerings from rival makers.

The information would allow rival makers of server systems to design programs that work as well with PC's running Windows as Microsoft's own server software does.

By withholding vital information about Windows from rival makers of software for servers, the company gained an unfair advantage in the separate market for server software.

It would also have to share more Windows code to allow rival makers of server software to compete with Microsoft more fairly, according to people close to the case.

Some agency executives said Slim-Fast might be de-emphasizing its testimonial ads because so many rival makers of diet ads have adopted the same strategy.

By withholding crucial information about Windows code, the commission said Microsoft had prevented rival makers of low-end server software from being able to interoperate with Windows.