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Battery maker Valence Technology Inc. said yesterday that it filed for chapter 11 protection in hopes of boosting its liquidity and refocusing itself on its core lithium phosphate markets, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The company, based in Austin, Texas, makes lithium phosphate batteries are used by a variety of markets; including automotive and marine transport, industrial, military and stationary equipment. The company expects to pay employee wages and benefits and continue customer programs during its bankruptcy. Its subsidiaries outside of the U.S. are not subject to the bankruptcy proceedings and will continue to operate normally.

Ritz Camera & Image LLC is asking the court's permission to hold a September auction for the 137 camera stores that will be left in the chain after it holds store-closing sales at 82 locations, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. While the company did not name a lead bidder for its auction in court documents, it said that it will name one by Aug. 16. Read more.

A wave of states have passed laws that will require consumers to pay sales tax on all Internet purchases as soon as next year, the Washington Post reported today. Other states and the District of Columbia are pursuing similar measures, and in Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) wants to go further and levy a tax on songs and other digital products bought through popular sources such as iTunes. For states struggling in the troubled economy, this could mean $23 billion in new revenue each year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Bricks-and-mortar retailers are cheering the moves. For years, their online rivals have resisted charging sales tax, giving them a price advantage. They have cited a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that let online companies off the hook if they did not have a physical presence in the state where the customer lived.

Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper granted bankrupt Eastman Kodak Co. approval to auction its digital imaging patents as part of its restructuring, Reuters reported yesterday. Apple Inc. and privately held FlashPoint Technology Inc. had objected to the sale, both claiming that they had ownership in some of the more than 1,100 patents. Kodak is seeking to sell the patents and focus its business on printing. The patents are part of Kodak's digital-capture portfolio for devices such as digital cameras, smartphones, and tablets. The portfolio has generated more than $3 billion in revenues since 2001. In June, Kodak sued Apple in the bankruptcy court, alleging that Apple wrongly claimed to own 10 patents arising from work the companies did together in the early 1990s. Kodak said that it expected to auction the patents in early August.

A bankruptcy court on Wednesday approved the sale of two large, unbuilt California solar-power plants from Solar Trust of America to NextEra Energy Inc. and BrightSource Energy, Dow Jones DBR Small Cap reported today. NextEra Energy, which owns Florida Power & Light and a fleet of power plants and wind and solar farms, bid $50 million for a 1,000-megawatt solar power project called Blythe, according to court records and California documents. Solar Trust filed for chapter 11 protection in April, several months after its majority owner, Solar Millennium AG, filed for insolvency in Germany.

A Colorado-based solar panel maker that received a $400 million loan guarantee from the Obama administration said yesterday that it will file for bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported yesterday. Abound Solar of Loveland, Colo., said it will suspend operations next week, after talks with potential buyers broke down. The company received about $70 million from the Energy Department before officials froze its credit line last year. Abound is the third clean-energy company to seek bankruptcy protection after receiving a loan from the Energy Department under the economic stimulus law. California solar panel maker Solyndra and Beacon Power, a Massachusetts energy-storage firm, declared bankruptcy last year. Solyndra received a $528 million federal loan, while Beacon Power got a $43 million loan guarantee. Abound said about 125 workers will be laid off.

Photography pioneer Eastman Kodak Co. sued Apple Inc. to stop it from interfering with plans to sell a large patent portfolio, a significant part of its bankruptcy restructuring, Reuters reported yesterday. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in bankruptcy court, Kodak said that Apple wrongly claims to own 10 patents arising from work that the companies did together in the early 1990s. Privately held FlashPoint Technology Inc. also claims ownership through an assignment from Apple, which spun it off in 1996, and is also a defendant, Kodak said. The patents include technology that helps camera owners preview photographs on LCD screens.

Massachusetts solar-power company Konarka Technologies Inc. collapsed into bankruptcy after spending tens of millions of investor dollars and government grant money to research and manufacture thin plastic strips of sunlight-absorbing sheeting, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company's debts topped more than $10 million, according to its bankruptcy petition, and a recent financial statement projects that roughly $113,541 will remain in the company's bank accounts after it pays out severance to employees and receives a final $82,000 grant payment from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. Since its founding, Konarka attracted investment from venture-capital firms and companies such as Konica Minolta, which bought a 7.5 percent stake in Konarka for $20 million in 2010. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney encouraged Konarka's growth during his term as Massachusetts governor. Konarka's filing came the same week that Romney visited a closed Solyndra LLC plant in California, where he criticized the Obama administration's decision to guarantee a $535 million loan to the solar-panel maker, which fell to foreign competition.

Eastman Kodak Co. lost a preliminary patent ruling yesterday as a trade panel judge ruled that Apple and Research in Motion did not violate a Kodak patent because it was invalid, Reuters reported. An administrative law judge at the International Trade Commission said that the critical portion of Kodak's patent, which allows a user to preview digital images, was invalid because it was obvious. The full ITC will confirm or overturn the judge's decision in September. Kodak, now in bankruptcy, saw its share price shrink by more than 25 percent to 19 cents in trading on Monday afternoon. This is the second round through the ITC for this dispute -- an ITC judge had previously found the same patent invalid but the full ITC asked for that decision to be reviewed.

A group of LightSquared Inc. lenders that objected to the wireless-network provider's use of cash collateral owns $1.1 billion of its secured debt and includes Capital Research & Management Co. and Appaloosa Management LP, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The debt is part of a $1.7 billion loan to LightSquared’s "LP" unit, according to papers filed on May 18 in bankruptcy court. Bankruptcy Judge Shelley Chapman at a May 16 hearing asked the lender group, represented by law firm White & Case LLP, to disclose its members and holdings. LightSquared, based in Reston, Va., filed for bankruptcy on May 14, saying that it will seek a resolution with U.S. regulators who thwarted the company’s plan to deliver high-speed wireless to as many as 260 million people over concerns that it interferes with GPS networks. Capital Research owns $331.2 million in LightSquared debt and Appaloosa owns $257.3 million in debt, according to court papers.