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Hewlett-Packard is in "serious" talks about settling a lawsuit brought by shareholders over its troubled acquisition of infrastructure software vendor Autonomy.

A judge has ruled that Hewlett-Packard and its CEO, Meg Whitman, must mount a defense against a shareholder class action lawsuit claiming that Whitman and HP made misleading statements about the acquisition of Autonomy.

Change in any industry involves conflict. Evolution and revolution in tech this year took place not only in the marketplace but also in the courtroom, the factory, and on the Web. Here are the top news stories of 2012 as selected by the editors of the IDG News Service.

Hewlett-Packard is planning to "aggressively" seek recompense for alleged accounting fraud related to the acquisition of its Autonomy unit, which resulted in the vendor taking a non-cash impairment charge of US$8.8 billion.

In 2011, the increasingly mobile and socially networked world of technology became more intertwined than ever with politics and the law. Patent wars shaped competition in tablets and smartphones, hacktivists attacked a widening array of political and corporate targets, repressive regimes unplugged citizens from the Internet, and the U.S. government moved to block the giant merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA. With the passing of Steve Jobs, the world lost a technology icon who redefined the computer, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. These are the IDG News Service's picks for the top 10 technology stories of the year:

Hewlett-Packard's bombshell revelation that it would take a US$8.8 billion non-cash writedown after allegedly discovering major accounting fraud related to its Autonomy business unit has rocked the tech world.