Jan 20 2010
Unidym, Inc., a majority owned subsidiary of Arrowhead Research Corporation (NASDAQ:ARWR), today announced that it has completed three licensing agreements for its nanotechnology intellectual property (IP) for use in applications such as aerospace and military products. Each license agreement provides for modest upfront fees and future royalty payments to Unidym.
"Licensing our IP outside of our core market in printable electronic materials, illustrates the breadth of Unidym's patent portfolio," said Mark Tilley, CEO of Unidym. "Early adoption of our IP for developing products and technologies in a broad array of applications provides further validation of the value of our technology portfolio among large and maturing markets. As a first mover in evolving industries, we believe we hold a significant competitive advantage. In-line with our strategy to monetize the value of our IP, we will continue to seek revenue generating licensing opportunities beyond the markets in which we intend to sell our high-margin electronic inks and films."
The agreements comprise the following:
- Nonexclusive license to a large Japanese materials company. The license is for U.S. Patent 6,852,410 covering the use of carbon nanotubes to manufacture high performance carbon fibers for structural composites such as aerospace applications;
- Nonexclusive license to Torrey Pines Technologies, a San-Diego based designer of advanced technologies for RF, microelectronics and automated equipment. The license is for a suite of patents related to the use of vertically aligned nanotubes and nanofibers as thermal interface materials in military and space products.
- Nonexclusive license to Nano Lab, a Boston-based manufacturer of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes. The license is for U.S. Patent 6,863,942 covering the growth of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes on certain substrates.
Unidym is a leader in carbon nanotube-based transparent, conductive films (TCFs) for the electronics industry. TCFs are a critical component in devices such as touch panels, displays, and thin-film solar cells. For example, both touch panels and LCDs typically employ two TCF layers per device. Unidym's TCFs offer substantial advantages over the incumbent technology, indium-based metal oxides, including: improved durability, lower processing costs, and lower overall cost structure.