Business news in brief

SolarCity, Google set up $750M fund

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- SolarCity and Google liked their partnership that funded residential solar installations so much they're doing it again -- only bigger.

The two Silicon Valley companies are teaming up on a fund expected to finance $750 million in residential solar projects across 14 states and the District of Columbia, which the companies said last week would be the largest nest egg of its kind. Google will put in $300 million, which the search giant said was its largest renewable-energy investment yet, topping the $280 million invested in a similar SolarCity fund in 2011.

Jonathan Bass, vice president of communications for SolarCity, said the $750 million -- which will include $450 million in debt financing -- will cover solar systems for 25,000 homes, and the company expects to fully exhaust the cash in 2015.

These types of funds are a core part of SolarCity's business model, allowing the company to attract 190,000 customers and install solar systems that generate more than a gigawatt of power through the end of 2014, more than the output of two coal-fired power plants. Customers, in turn, lease the systems with little to no upfront costs.

Part of that money pays back the partner that put up the funds with a profit, making it an attractive option for large companies with cash to burn. SolarCity announced three similar funds in 2014, totaling roughly $850 million, with large banks as partners: JPMorgan, Bank of America and Capitol One.

Google has focused on investing in clean energy, with the company striking a deal earlier this month to entirely power its Mountain View headquarters with wind energy. Google said at the time that it operates with 35 percent renewable power worldwide.

-- San Jose Mercury News

At patent impasse, Ericsson sues Apple

WASHINGTON -- Ericsson, a pioneer in mobile phones that transformed itself into the world's largest maker of wireless networks, said Friday it's filing seven new lawsuits in a U.S. court and is asking the U.S. International Trade Commission to block Apple products from the U.S. market.

Together, the complaints accuse Apple of infringing as many as 41 patents for some of the fundamental ways mobile devices communicate and for related technology such as user interfaces, battery saving and the operating system.

"We have offered them a license; they have a turned it down," said Kasim Alfalahi, Ericsson's chief intellectual property officer. "We're not a company that's planning to extract more than the value we put on the table."

Apple, based in Cupertino, Calif., had been paying royalties to Stockholm-based Ericsson before a license expired in mid-January. When talks over renewal failed, the companies sued each other, seeking court rulings on whether Ericsson's royalty demands on fundamental technology were fair and reasonable.

"We've always been willing to pay a fair price to secure the rights to standard essential patents covering technology in our products," Kristin Huguet, an Apple spokesman, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we have not been able to agree with Ericsson on a fair rate for their patents so, as a last resort, we are asking the courts for help."

In its complaint against Ericsson in January, Apple said the price of today's electronics are driven by things like their design, operating system and touch capabilities that are unique to each product. Apple said Ericsson "seeks to exploit its patents to take the value of these cutting-edge Apple innovations" and accused the company of "abusive licensing practices."

The new complaints being filed by Ericsson at the International Trade Commission in Washington take the dispute to another level and are designed to put pressure on Apple. The trade commission, whose job is to protect U.S. markets from unfair trade practices, moves more swiftly than district courts and has the power to block products from crossing the border.

-- Bloomberg News

Google files canopied design for offices

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Tech giant Google on Friday dropped off reams of paperwork at Mountain View City Hall detailing the company's whimsical plans to expand its corporate headquarters.

Drawings of the plans show a series of translucent, biospherelike canopies over the city's North Bayshore office district between San Francisco Bay and U.S. 101.

"Instead of constructing immovable concrete buildings, we'll create lightweight block-like structures which can be moved around easily as we invest in new product areas," the company said in a statement. "Large translucent canopies will cover each site, controlling the climate inside yet letting in light and air."

Hundreds of pages containing the full details of the plans are not yet publicly available, but several city officials shown the renderings said they were impressed.

"Rather than an insular corporate headquarters, Google North Bayshore will be a vibrant new neighborhood of Mountain View," said Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, who was commissioned to design the project along with London's Thomas Heatherwick, in a written statement Friday.

But area residents are likely to raise concerns about traffic congestion and how the massive development could reshape the small city's suburban way of life.

Google's plans appear to absorb nearly all of the land in the North Bayshore technology district that the city has allowed for new office development, raising concerns about what room will be left for everyone else.

-- San Jose Mercury News

SundayMonday Business on 03/02/2015

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