Marked for lawsuits: Two companies hit with patent actions
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, July 12th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Marked for lawsuits: Two companies hit with patent actions
Alan Brite, an ex-Marine awarded a Purple Heart in World War II, has owned his own business for 59 years. He’s not about to take any guff over a new wrinkle in patent law. A few months ago, his company, Santa Barbara-based Copper Brite, received a letter from a Texas law firm. Brite was being Read More →
Port revenues down, imports struggling
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, July 12th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Port revenues down, imports struggling
The Port of Hueneme expects a net loss of $1.2 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, and port officials are tightening operations in anticipation of a $2.3 million loss in 2011. The only deep-water port between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, the Port of Hueneme is a key landing point Read More →
Financial planner faces lawsuits
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, July 5th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Financial planner faces lawsuits
Ian Filippini, the young president of Montecito-based Filippini Financial Group, filed for personal bankruptcy in April, listing $4.4 million in liabilities. Along with his firm, he faces five civil lawsuits asking for more than $3 million in damages. Filippini’s legal troubles come just a year after formally taking the family firm over from his Read More →
A bright future: SLO solar firm sees big growth ahead
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, July 5th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on A bright future: SLO solar firm sees big growth ahead
In four years, San Luis Obispo-based Mainstream Energy Corp. has grown from a head count of fewer than 100 employees to nearly 600 employees and $150 million in annual sales. It recently signed on Kam Mofid, a veteran of large firms such as Teleflex, Pratt & Whitney and General Motors, as president to expand the Read More →
Layoffs, budget cuts hit cities, counties
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, July 5th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Layoffs, budget cuts hit cities, counties
In what’s become an annual blood-letting ritual in California, local governments in the Tri-Counties passed budgets for the new fiscal year that add up to tens of millions of dollars in spending cuts and dozens of lost jobs. A survey by the Business Times of the three county governments and the 25 cities in the Read More →
Commercial foreclosures pile up in Ventura County
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, June 28th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Commercial foreclosures pile up in Ventura County
As multimillion-dollar foreclosures continue to hit Ventura County, commercial real estate insiders and observers are worried that the pain in the market is a long way from over. “We have a recovery in place, but it’s a very, very slow and weak recovery,” said Kirk Lesh, the senior real estate economist at California Lutheran University Read More →
Summer ales: Breweries in season in Santa Ynez Valley
By Pacific Coast Business Times Staff / Monday, June 28th, 2010 / Top Stories / Comments Off on Summer ales: Breweries in season in Santa Ynez Valley
A craft beer movement is brewing in the heart of Santa Barbara County’s wine country. By the end of summer, the Santa Ynez Valley — on the national radar as prime California wine country since the 2004 film “Sideways” — will have two companies brewing beer in hand-crafted batches. Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. is retrofitting Read More →
