“Inogen, Inc., a Santa Barbara-based designer and manufacturer of devices that help people suffering from respiratory illnesses, announced on February 16 that it had secured $22 million from the venture capital arm of the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to apply toward research and development of new devices. According to Inogen, the money will help popularize the Inogen One, a portable, 10-pound respiratory aid the company says could replace the bulkier models currently used by those who have difficulty breathing.”

“Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (of Pasadena) has received two new contracts, one from the Indian Oil Corp. Limited and a second from POWEO Production… In its contract from Indian Oil Corp. Limited, a Jacobs subsidiary will provide project management consultancy services for a 400,000 tons per year Motor Spirit Quality project at its Panipat Refinery in the state of Haryana, India…

Separately, Jacobs announced that it will provide owner engineer support for a new 400 MWe combined cycle Gas turbine power plant at Pont-sur-Sambre, France…The facility will be the first production unit operated by POWEO Group who has been an electricity trader on the French energy market for almost four years.”

“Vivendi Games has purchased the largest game development studio in Latin America, the company said Tuesday. Financial terms of the deal with Wanako Games, based in Santiago, Chile, were not disclosed. Vivendi said in a release that the purchase will help its Los Angeles-based Sierra Online division to enhance its internal product development capabilities in the downloadable online games space. Sierra will keep Wanako’s developers… Los Angeles’ Vivendi Games is the interactive entertainment unit of France-based Vivendi SA.”

“Computer Sciences Corp. (El Segundo) has renewed its information technology services agreement with Vital Forsikring in a contract worth about $80 million if all options are exercised, the company said Tuesday. The deal with Vital Forsikring, Norway’s largest privately owned life and pension insurance company, has a five-year base period and three one-year options. Vital Forsikring is owned by Norway’s largest financial group, DnB NOR, and serves about one million customers.”

“Smart & Final Inc. has agreed to sell to an affiliate of Apollo Management LP for $22 a share in cash, the company said Tuesday… The Apollo affiliate has also entered a stock purchase agreement with Paris-based Casino Guichard-Perrachon, S.A. that owns about 55 percent of Smart & Final’s common stock… City of Commerce-based Smart & Final Inc. operates 254 non-membership warehouse stores for food and food-service supplies in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and northern Mexico.”

“US firm VMWare is expected to create 300 new jobs in a major expansion of its existing operation at Ballincollig. The jobs are set to be confirmed when Enterprise Minister Mícheál Martin and Junior Environment Minister Batt O’Keeffe formally open an expansion of the VMWare facility later this week. VMWare, based in (Palo Alto) California, is a global leader in virtual infrastructure software and already employ more than 100 staff at their Ballincollig operation.”

“Greece’s ambassador to the United States, veteran diplomat Alexandros Mallias, concluded a nearly week-long tour of Arizona and California this past week, where he was received by.., Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, among others. In California, the Greek envoy appeared at several public events and held meetings with, among others, the LA Times’ editorial board, the leadership of the Rand Corp. and the J. Paul Getty Museum. He also served as the guest speaker at an event hosted by the west coast office of the American Jewish Committee (AJC)…. Mallias spoke at events held at the USC Center of Public Diplomacy, the University of San Diego’s School of International Relations and the University of Santa Barbara’s World Affairs Council, along with providing interviews to a handful of Southern California media outlets and holding contacts with local Greek-American community representatives.”

“Strong European sales gave Guess Inc. a lift. The Los Angeles-based clothing maker and retailer reported a 77 percent hike in net income and a 25 percent boost in sales. Shares gained 16.3 percent during the week, closing Friday at $84.86, reaching a 52-week high of $84.99 during trading. Guess shares have more than doubled in the past year.”

Airbus has decided to make it’s maiden overseas voyage with passengers to New York, rather than Los Angeles sparking outrage from city officials who believed the company reneged on a commitment for LAX to be its first stop. Airbus had told airport officials last year that it would bring the A380 to LAX on its maiden U.S. flight if the airport expedited construction of a new gate to accommodate the 555-seat jetliner. LAX rushed to build the gate and spent tens of millions of dollars getting ready for the A380 with the understanding that it would be the first U.S. airport to welcome the giant plane. This is a “slap at Los Angeles International Airport… and the city of Los Angeles,” Paul Haney, a deputy executive director of the Los Angeles airport agency, wrote in an e-mail to the chairman of Airbus North America, “We are taken aback, to put it mildly, that Airbus is not living up to its commitment to have the A380 touch down at LAX first” he said. Los Angeles, proud of its aviation history, and always ready for an excuse to party, had planned a huge media extravaganza to welcome the first A380 test flight, hoping it would give a public relations boost to both LAX and Airbus. Airbus claimed that it instead decided to take the A380 to New York and Chicago at the request of Lufthansa Airlines, whose crews have helped test the aircraft. A Lufthansa spokeswoman disagreed, and said that Airbus “is in charge … they are operationally responsible for these flights.”

“Growers cooperation Apofruit Italia has come to an agreement with Sun World International (California). Apofruit has obtained production and distribution rights on Sun World patented plums, such as Angeleno and Black Diamond, and seedless grapes, such for example Sugraone. Renzo Piraccini, Apofruit general director comments: ‘As well as in other fruit varieties, the grape sector does also need innovation to grow. We see a great potential for seedless grapes and we want to step into this market. Our aim is to reach a production of 5K MT seedless grapes to be sold on the international markets’. “

“Therma-Wave Inc. said Wednesday that it was notified that the German Federal Cartel office began a second phase in its review of KLA-Tencor Corp.’s proposed $75 million acquisition of the company. Fremont-based Therma-Wave and San Jose-based KLA-Tencor both said they will cooperate with the German authorities.”

“Warner Music Group said it is forming a partnership with Norwegian telecommunications group Telenor ASA to allow its content to be featured through Telenor’s network of mobile companies. The deal announced Wednesday will make available Warner’s full-length songs, ringtones, mobile music videos and wallpapers on at least nine of Telenor’s 13 mobile operators.”

“Trimble Navigation Ltd. said Wednesday it acquired INPHO GmbH in an all-cash transaction. Sunnyvale-based Trimble did not disclose financial terms of the deal. Stuttgart, Germany-based INPHO is a privately held company that focuses on photogrammetry and digital surface modeling for aerial surveying, mapping and remote sensing applications.”

“Facing a backlash from scholars worldwide, UC Irvine says it will drop a lawsuit against the widow and children of professor and philosopher Jacques Derrida, the acclaimed founder of the intellectual movement called deconstruction… Derrida, a Frenchman who taught part time at UCI from 1986 to 2003, developed an influential and bewildering intellectual discipline that questions the notion of absolute truth. In November, UCI sued Derrida’s estate in federal court, saying his family had refused to relinquish manuscripts and correspondence that Derrida promised in writing to donate to the university.”

Jacobs Engineering is on a roll. In addition to a big seismic retrofit project of the Transbay Tube between Oakland and San Francisco, and an indefinite delivery contract with the GSA, they have just been awarded a contract with a major manufacturing firm in the Netherlands. According to the Los Angeles Business Journal, the contract is with Teijin Twaron B.V. to provide engineering, procurement, and construction management services as part of the “NIKKO Project” being implemented at Teijin Twaron’s existing site in Emmen. “Teijin Twaron is an international company that supplies customers throughout the world with a broad portfolio of aramid high performance fibers. Jacobs will develop a new spinning facility to turn base polymer materials into Teijin Twaron’s synthetic aramid fiber, called Twaron”, the article said. Jacobs is based in Pasadena and provides technical, professional, and construction services globally. It employs more that 45,000 worldwide.

“ILOG Inc. said Tuesday it acquired supply chain vendor LogicTools Inc. for about $15 million. Gentilly, France-based ILOG – which has U.S. headquarters in Mountain View — said the acquisition of Chicago-based LogicTools is two-thirds in cash and one-third in ILOG stock.”

“Permit and planning problems have held up construction of a sprawling Riverside distribution center for supermarket giant Tesco PLC and two suppliers. But the British retailer says the delays won’t significantly affect its billion-dollar U.S. plans. One of the world’s largest grocery companies, Tesco doesn’t operate any U.S. stores right now. But it intends to open 100 to 150 in 2007 and 2008, and compete with Vons, Ralphs, Albertsons, Stater Bros., Traders Joe’s and others.”

“The big social networks are looking for ways to reach more people, and they’re having to partner. MySpace.com, the giant social network, will enter the European mobile phone market with an exclusive relationship with Vodafone, they just announced.”

“BT has agreed to terms to acquire International Network Services Inc (INS), a global provider of IT consulting and software solutions. This professional services acquisition will increase BT’s presence in North America and will significantly enhance BT’s consulting capabilities… Based in Santa Clara, California, with offices in Europe, Asia and throughout North America, the company builds, implements and secures business technology infrastructures for its customers.”

Is Steve Jobs trying to create a trans-Atlantic trade issue? A report in today’s International Herold Tribune covers a growing dispute between Apple and the European Union about the digital music industry. The EU generally believes that consumers should be able to play songs from online sites on any digital music player. Songs purchased from Apple’s iTunes store, however, can only be played on the company’s iPod music players.

A consumer ombudsman in Norway last month agreed with this complaint, giving Apple until March 1 to respond and until Oct. 1 to do something about it. The ombudsman’s decision was followed by complaints from consumer groups in other Nordic countries, along with groups in France, Germany and the Netherlands. Jobs fired back last week when he wrote on his website that “Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries” and proposed that music companies drop digital rights management software, which restricts the ability of consumers to copy songs or to move them from one digital device to another.

The Tribune noted that “in issuing a call for the record industry to drop copy protection, or digital rights management, from music sold online, the Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, highlighted the fact that two of the big four music firms, and half of another, are owned by European companies”. Many in the EU are not buying Jobs arguments, “He’s trying to move the responsibility away from Apple and turn this into a trans-Atlantic trade issue,” said Torgeir Waterhouse, senior adviser to the Norwegian Consumer Council.