Tag Archives: legal
LEED Certified Lawyers?
Lawyers already have to slog their way through contracts, torts, criminal and constitutional law… but maybe it’s time to add “green building law” to the list? An emerging new trend among attorneys is appending “LEED AP” to the “JD” already behind their name. The acronym stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional”, [...]
Solar Venture Capital Funding Falls Off A Cliff
A new report from Mercom Capital Group, llc, found that solar venture capital (VC) funding fell to $72 million in the third-quarter of 2012. And at 14 deals in the quarter, that’s the lowest level since 2008, the report found. That’s also down quarter over quarter from $376 million in 32 deals in the second [...]
Intellectual Property Rights in Green Bankruptcies
As the number of green technology bankruptcies continues to rise, an important consideration for these companies, their business partners, and their creditors is the treatment of IP rights in bankruptcy. For example, with companies engaged in new research and development, often through collaborations with other companies, how does the bankruptcy process effect the estate’s IP [...]
eSolar eNforces eCo-mark
eSolar is a Burbank, California, solar thermal company that makes solar power plants using flat mirrors, or heliostats, to concentrate sunlight onto a centrally located water tank suspended on a tower. This type of structure is known as “power tower” architecture. The company owns U.S. Trademark Registration No. 3,828,737 for the ESOLAR word mark for, inter alia, ”power plants” [...]
Solar Drama: SunPower Sues SolarCity Over ‘Stolen’ Documents
In what is being described as symptomatic of the “cutthroat” world of solar energy, San Jose-based SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA) sued SolarCity on Monday, Feb. 13, for reportedly accepting what it knew were stolen documents. SunPower, a major solar panel manufacturer located in the Bay Area, which in 2010 produced the world’s most efficient solar [...]
Green Patent Complaints: January 2012
There have been a few green patent complaints filed in the last several weeks in the areas of LEDs, solar power, and biofuels. LEDs Fiber Optic Designs, Inc. v. Seasons 4, Inc. Filed December 16, 2011 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Fiber Optic Designs’ (FOD) complaint (FiberOptic_Complaint) alleges that Seasons 4 is infringing two patents directed to [...]
Bonuses for Solyndra’s Remaining Employees? #WTF
The corpse of bankrupt Solyndra continues to throw off taxpayer and venture cash to executives. Solyndra looks to pay its remaining staff an additional $500,000 in bonuses, according to reports in The Mercury News and The San Jose Business Journal. The attorneys for Solyndra (that would be Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones) are asking the [...]
December 2011 Green Patent and Copyright Update
Several green patent lawsuits (and one green copyright suit) have been filed in the last several weeks in the areas of LEDs, hybrid vehicles, wastewater treatment, energy management, and biodegradable materials. LEDs Bluestone Innovations Florida, L.L.C. v. Formosa Epitaxy Bluestone Innovations (Bluestone), a Florida-based patent licensing company, recently filed a Complaint in the U.S. District Court for [...]
Notes From The BIPV Conference
I’m writing this from a BIPV Summit in San Diego. There are about100 people attending, rather scant for a solar event, but it’s aninteresting group. Utilities, roofers, architects, and the usualsuspects from the PV world — Suntech, Solyndra, Heliovolt, some startup called Pythagoras Solar. First let’s make the distinction between BAPV and BIPV. BAPV isBuilding [...]