Business news in brief

Merck & Co. lost a British court bid to reinstate its European patent for the glaucoma treatment Cosopt after a successful challenge by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Both companies have major operations in the Philadelphia area. A November 2009 ruling that Merck's patent lacked novelty or inventiveness was correct because experts in the field would have found the development to be obvious, the Court of Appeal ruled Friday in London. "Merck is disappointed by the Court of Appeal decision," Ron Rogers, a spokesman for the Whitehouse Station, N.J., company said. - Bloomberg News

Pennsylvania State University will receive a $1 million alternative-energy grant to design and install smart-grid research and development facilities at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. The award was part of $6.5 million in grants statewide announced by the Commonwealth Financing Authority. The school's project, which will cost $5 million, involves research on the interaction of buildings, renewable energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles with the electricity grid. - Paul Schweizer

Cephalon Inc., Frazer, won a court order that prevents generic-drug makers from selling low-cost versions of its muscle relaxant Amrix until a judge rules on a patent dispute over the drug. Generic versions could have entered the market as soon as April 17. U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson in Wilmington said Friday that she wasn't sure if she could issue a ruling by that date. - Bloomberg News

A New York-based private equity fund has won an auction to buy what's left of the bankrupt Charlie Brown's Steakhouse chain. Praesidian Capital Opportunity Fund III-A L.P. offered $9.5 million for the 20 restaurants, including 17 in New Jersey. The Asbury Park Press of Neptune first reported the deal. A federal bankruptcy court hearing to approve the sale is scheduled for Monday. The restaurant chain's parent company, Mountainside, N.J.-based CB Holding Corp., filed for bankruptcy protection in November and closed 47 restaurants. The company has since sold its other chains, Bugaboo Creek and the Office Beer Bar & Grill. - AP

Toyota Motor Corp. said it would resume car production at all its plants in Japan at half capacity from April 18 to 27. The move follows the March earthquake and tsunami that forced it to halt manufacturing due to shortages of parts and power. Toyota said production at its 18 plants would then halt from April 28 to May 9, a period that includes Golden Week holidays, when factories would normally close. The automaker also said its North American plants would experience a series of one-day shutdowns, starting April 15 and ending April 25. - AP

Rising demand for corn from ethanol producers is pushing U.S. reserves to the lowest point in 15 years, a trend that could lead to higher grain and food prices this year. The Agriculture Department on Friday left its estimate for corn reserves unchanged from the previous month. The reserves are projected to fall to 675 million bushels in late August, when the harvest begins, or roughly 5 percent of all corn consumed in the United States. That would be the lowest surplus level since 1996. - AP

House Republicans passed a bill to repeal federal rules barring Internet service providers from blocking or setting different prices for some uses of their networks. Republicans said the Federal Communications Commission lacked the authority to promulgate rules on "network neutrality." They disputed the need to interfere with an already-open Internet and said the rules would stifle investment in broadband systems. The bill to overturn the FCC rules faces an uncertain future in the Democratic-led Senate. The White House has issued a veto threat. - AP

Europe's top financial officials said Friday that Portugal would need about $114 billion in rescue loans and that negotiations over a full, multiyear bailout program would begin immediately. A final deal should be in place by mid-May, allowing the debt-ridden country to meet huge bond repayments in June, the EU's monetary affairs commissioner, Olli Rehn, said. Rehn said that the loan amount was based on "very, very preliminary estimates." Portugal this week became the third country in the eurozone to request international help, after last year's multibillion rescue packages for Greece and Ireland from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. - AP

Government officials are letting Google Inc. proceed with its $700 million purchase of the airline-fare tracker ITA Software. The purchase gives Google control over the technology that powers the reservation systems of most major U.S. airlines and many online fare-comparison services, including Kayak and Hotwire. But the antitrust clearance by the Justice Department comes with conditions. Google must license ITA's software to other companies, and it will be prohibited from accessing proprietary data or technology of ITA customers that resides on or runs through ITA servers. - AP

The Internal Revenue Service is focusing on the wealthiest Americans with money overseas as it develops regulations to require foreign banks to give the government more information about those customers. The IRS said it would direct foreign banks to spend less time monitoring accounts of people with less than $50,000 and to focus on finding U.S. account holders with more than $500,000 and with private banking relationships. The requirements force foreign banks to tell the IRS about U.S. account holders as part of the agency's effort to combat offshore tax evasion. - Bloomberg News

Regulators shut down a small bank in Illinois and one in Nevada, lifting to 28 the number of U.S. bank failures this year after 157 succumbed in 2010. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Western Springs National Bank & Trust, in Western Springs, Ill., with $186.8 million in assets. Regulators also closed Nevada Commerce Bank, Las Vegas. It had $144.9 million in assets. - AP