The International House of Pancakes has launched a new contemporary apparel Web site, www.ihopstuff.com. The new site is an early entree to a year-long celebration of IHOP’s 50th birthday. July 7 is the exact birthday of the Glendale-based operation. “Since we opened our doors 50 years ago, loyal guests have been clamoring for additional merchandise from IHOP, and now we are able to deliver apparel that features some of the phrases and graphics that IHOP has become famous for,” Carolyn O’Keefe, IHOP’s senior vice president of marketing said. The Web site will feature sweatshirts, hats and vintage T-shirts between $18 and $20. The merchandise will be available exclusively online for a limited time.

The lack of financing led Image Entertainment Inc. to terminate its proposed merger with a private equity. Chatsworth-based Image notified BTP Acquisition Co. LLC on Feb. 5 it was backing out of the deal agreed to in June. The deal would have given BTP a controlling interest in the home entertainment production and distribution company. Image, however, would have remained a publicly traded company. The closing date on the agreement was extended more than six months to allow BTP to finalize financing needed to complete the merger. “We are very disappointed that despite Image’s willingness to close the merger and enormous patience, BTP was either unable or unwilling to finance the transaction,” an Image spokesperson said in a prepared statement. Image seeks a $4.2 million business interruption fee required by the merger agreement.

The adult entertainment industry took a stronger, more unified approach to taking on the companies and website illegally selling their movies and photos with the formation of a new for-profit corporation. The PAK Group has the twofold mission of filing lawsuits against suspected pirates, and educating producers of adult content how to protect their work. A month after its incorporation, the PAK Group has 17 companies on board with more to follow, said Jason Tucker, president and co-owner of Falcon Foto, a Sylmar-based photo and video library. “A thief is a thief and a scumbag’s a scumbag,” Tucker said during a discussion about piracy at the Xbiz conference in Hollywood on Feb. 6. “If you steal my stuff and have money to take, I’m taking it.” The PAK Group is an offshoot of efforts that Tucker, Shane’s World in Chatsworth and other adult companies have done individually to fight the theft of their protected work. Not until a meeting in September, however, had multiple companies joined together to discuss the overall impact of piracy to the industry and how to combat it collectively. The new corporation will combine financial resources to minimize the expense of building and documenting cases and pursuing litigation against wrongdoers. Working with the Canoga Park-based Free Speech Coalition and Global Anti-Piracy Agency, companies can learn about filing copyrights on all their material to better enforce their ownership. The PAK Group was formed as a for-profit because regulations governing a non-profit would have required disclosure of its tactics and strategies. “If thieves can make money for stealing our content, we should be make money from taking it back,” Tucker said.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited will market up to 13 molecules from Amgen’s pipeline for the Japanese. As a result of the agreement, Japanese patients will now have access to Amgen’s medicines across a range of therapeutic areas, including oncology, inflammation and pain. Amgen will receive an upfront cash payment of $200 million. Takeda will also pay Amgen up to $340 million in expected worldwide development costs for the molecules over the next several years as well as $362 million in success-based milestone payments and double digit royalties on Japanese sales. Additionally, Takeda plans to acquire all the shares of Amgen’s Japanese subsidiary, Amgen KK. The share transaction is anticipated to close in the first quarter.

North American Scientific Inc. has received a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market declaring that it is now in compliance with Nasdaq Marketplace rules. As a result, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel will continue to list the company’s securities. In addition, the Nasdaq staff has approved the Chatsworth-based radiation therapy company’s application to list its common stock on The Nasdaq Capital Market. Effective Feb. 6, the company’s common stock will be transferred from The Nasdaq Global Market to The Nasdaq Capital Market. It will continue to trade under the symbol “NASI.” Nasdaq previously notified the company that the bid price of its shares of common stock had closed at less than $1 per share over the previous 30 consecutive business days, and, as a result, it did not comply with Marketplace Rule 4450(a)(5). Accordingly, the company was given until April 2 to regain compliance.

California United Bank announced its net income for 2007 increased by $2.96 million over 2006, resulting in net earnings of $29,000. The Encino-based bank grew by $81.8 million to $260 million, a 45.9 percent increase over the prior year. Profitability is noteworthy after only its second full year of operation, president and CEO David I. Rainer said in a statement, “particularly while absorbing the start-up costs of two additional branches.” The bank achieved three consecutive profitable quarters in 2007, Rainer said, as well as profitability for the year. “This success has come from our core business, without brokered deposits or loan pool purchases,” he said. “Our success in the past two years is attributable to our relationship business model, strong capital ratios, notable growth in loans and deposits, and prudent loan policies,” Rainer said.

Advanstar Communications added to its life sciences conferences with the acquisition of CBI Research Inc. Terms of the deal between Woodland Hills-based Advanstar and CBI were not disclosed. CBI produces live and electronic conferences for senior-level executives in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. CBI President will continue to direct the company’s Massachusetts-based staff of 45. “The addition of CBI not only strengthens our market-leading pharmaceutical industry properties, but also extends Advanstar’s product matrix by providing conference expertise that can be applied to all of our market verticals,” said Advanstar CEO Joe Loggia.

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San Fernando Valley accountant Mel Kohn has been elected chairman of the board of directors of FilmLA, the first non-entertainment industry professional to hold that post. As the chairman, Kohn can reach out to the city leaders and the community at large to reflect what FilmLA is doing. “I bring that to that table because I have done it,” said Kohn, managing partner of Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge in Encino. FilmLA is the not-for-profit agency contracted to coordinate on-location filming in the city, Los Angeles Unified School District, Burbank Unified School District, Angeles National Forest and a number of smaller municipalities. Kohn was elected chair by members of the 25-person board. He will serve for one year and replaces Bryan Unger, the representative of the Directors Guild of America. Kohn joined the FilmLA board in 2005 and served for one year on the financial audit sub-committee. While not in the entertainment industry himself, Kohn said that was not daunted about leading the board and being its liaison with FilmLA President Steve MacDonald. He has served as chairman of the Valley Economic Development Center and president of the City of Los Angeles Business Tax Advisory Committee and still has many contacts at City Hall and among city leaders, Kohn said. As other states and some foreign countries offer financial incentives to lure away production companies, the Los Angeles area has seen a decrease in permitted shooting days, especially in feature films. The one consistent bright spot has been in filming for reality television shows. FilmLA needs to ease the permitting process so that productions are willing to stay, while at the same time protecting the neighborhoods where on-location filming takes place, Kohn said. “Just as with the tax advisory committee, the important thing is economic prosperity for the city and we have to do that by facilitating filming for the studios,” Kohn added. Kohn performed exceptionally well on the audit committee and deserves the chairman post, said Lisa Rawlins, senior vice president of studio and production affairs for Warner Bros. Entertainment. The perspective he brings to the board is one that sometimes those in the industry do not consider, Rawlins said. “He is going to create a great deal of balanced and thoughtful decision making,” Rawlins said. Mark R. Madler AUTOMOTIVE Transonic Combustion Inc. has made additions to its development team. Mike Frick is a former chief engineer at Delphi and had been strategic planner and chief engineer at Siemens. Dan Flowers comes to the company from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Feng Bin is a lubrication and seals expert from Ford Motor Co. and Visteon, a Ford spin-off. ENTERTAINMENT The Visual Effects Society announced its 2008 Board of Directors. Jeff Barnes was elected as the new chairman of the Encino-based VES. Barnes is co-founder and CEO of the ComputerCafe Group. Carl Rosendahl, a private consultant and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, was elected as first vice chair; Richard Winn Taylor, of Electronic Arts, was elected second vice chair; Ray Scalice, a founding member of the society and vice president and general manager at Pixel Magic Ray, was re-elected treasurer; and Pam Hogarth, director of industry relations at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, was re-elected as treasurer. GOVERNMENT David Brown received a 2008 National Planning Award for his work on the City of Calabasas General Plan Advisory Committee and as a member of the Citizen Advisory Committee of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. Brown teaches history at Los Angeles Valley College. Richard Hamilton, CEO of Ceres Inc., has been appointed to the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee for a three-year term. The committee assists the U.S. Energy and Agriculture departments in meeting goals for a healthier rural economy and improved national energy security. INSURANCE Venbrook Insurance Services in Woodland Hills has made additions to its executive ranks. Mark Ruggles has been named as president. In that position he is responsible for all sales and operations of the company’s brokerage unit. Prior to joining Venbrook, Ruggles served as executive vice president at CalSurance. Greg Hill has been named as chief financial officer of Venbrook Group. He previously served as senior vice president and western region controller of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. PUBLISHING MJ McMahon has been promoted to publisher of AVN Online. He previously served as co-publisher, associate publisher and associate editor. Sherri L. Shaulis has been named as editor of AVN Online. Shalis was previously editor in chief at Gold Country Media and a reporter for The Vindicator in Youngstown, Ohio. REAL ESTATE Pam Weston has been named as general manager of the Houston office of Younan Properties, a Woodland Hills-based real estate investment group. Prior to joining Younan, Weston was regional manager for a portfolio of major retail centers for Henry S. Miller Multi Management. SALES Peter Godinez has been appointed as director of technology sales and solutions at Imaging Technologies Direct. In this position, Godinez is responsible for leading and managing the outside sales for the company’s products. Prior to joining ITD, Godinez worked for Xerox Corp., Richoh Business Systems, Sharp and Hewlett Packard. John Florian has been named as sales manager for Third World Media and Combat Zone, two adult entertainment firms based in Chatsworth. Florian has worked in sales since 1993 at Sin City Films, Homegrown Video, and Private. TECHNOLOGY Raymond de Graaf has been appointed as vice president of operations at Ixia, a manufacturer of performance test systems based in Calabasas. In that position, de Graaf oversees growing, managing and integrating global operations. Prior to joining Ixia, de Graaf served as vice president and general manager of Precision Communications. Jeff Tumbleson has been appointed to the board of directors of Aspyra Inc., a Calabasas-based provider of services to the health care industry. Tumbleson is vice president of Outpatient Imaging Affiliates. He replaces Steven M. Besbeck, who resigned from the Aspyra board at the end of 2007.

The Image Entertainment Inc. Board of Directors will meet this week to discuss the status of a proposed merger with a private investment firm. The deal between Chatsworth-based Image and BTP Acquisition Co. has not closed as the two sides have accused the other of breaching their contract. In October, Image shareholders approved a deal in which they would receive cash in exchange for BTP acquiring 94 percent of the home entertainment production and distribution company’s common stock. Image and BTP agreed to extend the closing date until Feb. 5.