Wind-turbine-plant suits by 2 dismissed
U.S District Judge J. Leon Holmes has ordered that all lawsuits between Mitsubishi Power Systems Americas Inc. and General Electric Co. be dismissed with prejudice.
Holmes, who serves for the U.S. Eastern District of Arkansas, further ordered, in a filing posted on the final day of 2013, that both parties pay for their own attorney fees and costs.
A settlement between the two companies was reached in December after years of legal wrangling over patents regarding wind-turbine plants.
GE initially filed a patent complaint in 2008 and took the matter to U.S. District Court in Texas in 2009, and Mitsubishi countersued in Florida and Arkansas in 2010.
As part of the settlement, which included dismissing the lawsuits, Mitsubishi and GE each grants use of its intellectual property to the other and retains its own patents for wind turbines and related technology.
Mitsubishi continues to evaluate what to do with a $100 million, 200,000-square foot wind-turbine plant that remains unopened in Fort Smith.
- Chris Bahn
Tribune Co. gains 2 Arkansas TV stations
Tribune Co. has finalized its purchase of 19 stations across the country, including two in Northwest Arkansas.
KFSM-TV, Channel 5, and its counterpart KXNW-TV, Channel 34, were part of the $2.7 billion deal to acquire stations owned by Local TV Holdings LLC. Tribune Co.
announced plans to increase its TV holdings in July and added stations in 16 markets as a result.
Tribune President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Liguori, in a news release announcing the completed deal, called it “a historic day for Tribune and Local TV.” Tribune now owns 39 stations and is among the country’s largest commercial television-station companies.
“Combining these two great media companies will deliver tremendous benefits for our viewers, advertisers, and most important, the communities we serve,” Liguori said.
KFSM, which celebrated its 60th year in 2013, has offices in Fayetteville and Fort Smith and also counts parts of Oklahoma in its coverage area.
- Chris Bahn
State index off 2.88
amid profit-taking
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.88 to 333.69 Thursday.
“U.S. stocks retreated on Thursday as investors booked profits on the first day of trading in 2014 following a record close to end 2013,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
USA Truck Inc. shares fell 5.9 percent to finish at $12.59.
Windstream Holdings Inc. shares gained 3 cents to close at $8.01.
Home Bancshares Inc. shares dropped 2.7 percent to end at $36.36.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business, Pages 23 on 01/03/2014