NewsWatch: Hillcrest sues Nintendo for patent infringement

Hillcrest filed the suit in a federal district court in Maryland and also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. The company seeks unspecified damages and wants the court to stop Nintendo from infringing on its four patents for its Freespace technology.

Nintendo spokesman Charlie Scibetta said in a statement that the company had not been served with any lawsuit by Hillcrest and declined to comment further.

GM, SunEdison team up

on solar project

General Motors plans to install 8,700 solar panels on the roof of its White Marsh transmission plant, covering more than 300,000 square feet in one of the largest solar installations on the East Coast. The facility employs more than 300 people.

GM contracted with SunEdison of Beltsville, which will develop and install the electricity-producing panels. The company will also maintain a 20-year service plan.

More state companies on fastest-growing list

Seventeen Maryland companies made Inc. magazine's 27th annual list of the nation's 500 fastest-growing private businesses, up from 13 last year. Some 147 Maryland companies made the expanded 5,000 ranking, up from 138 last year.

Inc. ranks businesses based on revenue growth over the previous three years. The list was released this week.

Maryland was led by two companies not recognized last year. Hardwire LLC of Pocomoke City, a 25-employee manufacturer of armor for military and other vehicles, ranked 30th with a three-year growth rate of 4,406 percent to $27.7 million.

Solvern Innovations, a 120-employee Glen Burnie information technology company, ranked 52nd with a 2,901 percent growth rate to $9.3 million.

Rounding out the top five were last year's top Maryland company, Bill Me Later of Timonium, Source Consulting of Germantown and High Street Partners of Annapolis.

Owings Mills firm loses

patent, trademark case

An Owings Mills company has agreed to stop infringing on patents and trademarks held by a British manufacturer of protection barriers used by the military and for flood protection.

Hesco Bastion Ltd. sued Akar Logistics in May in a federal court in Maryland, which recently ruled in Hesco's favor.

Akar agreed in a consent order to remove references to Hesco from its advertising and web site, and pay Hesco's legal fees of $15,000. Akar provides military products such as body armor, tents, portable bathrooms and generators.

Volvo gets $1M loan

for Hagerstown plant

Volvo Powertrain is receiving $1 million in state and county loans — $900,000 from the state and $100,000 from Washington County — to upgrade its Hagerstown plant.

As part of the agreement, the company, which produces heavy-duty diesel engines, will invest $50 million to install a new engine block machining line and retain its full-time employees, with more workers possibly added in the near future. The company is also eligible for state workforce training grants up to $150,000.

Guitar company gets $10M

from state for expansion

Paul Reed Smith Guitars of Stevensville has received a $10 million state bond to help build an 84,000-square-foot addition to its 25,000-square-foot plant in the Chesapeake Bay Business Park.

The money comes from a private activity bond issued through the Department of Business and Economic Development's industrial development financing authority. The state loaned the company $1.5 million in 2005 to help launch the expansion project, which began in 2006.

The expansion is expected to create 60 jobs, bringing the company's workforce to more than 250 employees, according to a DBED statement.

"Growing from a small operation more than 20 years ago to now one of the top electric guitar makers in the world, [Paul Reed Smith] is certainly one of the rock stars of Maryland's business community and we are pleased to have played a role in the company's continued growth and success," said Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) — who plays acoustic, not electric, guitar in his Celtic band.