Hillsboro, Oregon-based TriQuint Semiconductor, and analog semiconductor and components firm Avago Technologies Limited have settled a series of patent lawsuits filed by the companies against each other, the companies said this week. Financial details of the settlement were not disclosed. According to the two, they have entered into patent cross licenses and have agreed to dismiss all related litigation. The two have been locked in a patent fight since 2009....Continue →

Bellevue-based Intellectual Ventures and paintings and coatings firm AkzoNobel announced today taht the tow have entered into a joint collaboration agreement, to develop new technologies for the paint and coatings industry. According to the firm, the deal allows AkzoNobel with access to technology from IV's portfolio of chemistry and materials science inventions. Intellectual Ventures said that a Seattle company, Seattle Polymers, was instrumental in the deal with AkzoNobel....Continue →

Seattle-based cloud infrastructure automation software developer Opscode announced a number of enterprise features and enhancements to its flagship software, Chef today, saying that it has added such features as integration with Active Directory, native support for Solaris, "one-click" installs, and more. Opscode reports that it is now approaching 100,000 downoads per month of its open source version of Chef, with total downloads of over a million....Continue →

Wilsonville, Oregon-based electronic design automation and embedded software provider Mentor Graphics has added a maker of Android-based, set-top boxes as a customer. The firm said that Vestel Electronics, a European maker of set-top boxes, is using its Mentor Embedded Inflexion UI product to develop the user interface for its new set-top-box. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Mentor's tools are used by embedded software developers to create user interfaces for their products....Continue →

Seattle-based real estate site Zillow said this morning that it has launched a "Zillow Partnership Platform"--a list of principles that outline the firm's commitment to help the company work better with multiple listing services and brokers....Continue →

Seattle-based Medify, which operates an online site which allows users to learn more about health conditions via the experiences of other patients, has been acquired by healthcare social networking provider Alliance Health Networks. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Medify was venture backed by Voyager Capital, and was founded by Derek Streat and Jay Bartot....Continue →

Seattle-based Prosodic, a developer of predictive analytics software aimed at helping publishers gain Facebook followers and likes, said this morning that it has raised $1.4M in a seed funding round. The round included Ignition Partners, as well as angels David Remer (Remer Inc.) and Gary Vaynerchuk (author, Vayner Media)....Continue →

Kirkland-based smartphone app provider Pirq, the startup headed by James Sun, is expanding out its distribution today with a partnership with the University of Washington's Alumni Association (UWAA). Pirq said the deal will give instant savings at more than 150 restaurants in the greater Puget Sound area to the UWAA's 55,000 members. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed....Continue →

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has backed an online marketplace which allows artists and others to show off their portfolio of work. New York-based Behance said Monday that it has raised $6.5M in a funding round, which included an investment from Bezos Expeditions, Jeff Bezos' personal investment fund, as well as Union Square Ventures, Dave Morin, Yves Behar, Chris Dixon, Dave Tisch, Dave McClure (500Startups), Alexis Ohanian, and Garrett Camp....Continue →

Seattle-based Revenue Management Systems, the developer of airfare management and ticket management software for airlines, has signed on another customer, the company said today. RMS said it has signed European carrier Belle Air with its tools. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Belle Air is based in Albania.Continue →

Bellevue-based Intellectual Ventures has teamed with graphics chip maker NVIDIA, to acquire a pile of patents covering the communications industry, the two said this morning. The two said they have acquired approximately 500 patent assets from IPWireless, a developer of wireless technology. IV and NVIDIA said they will split ownership of the patents.Continue →