May 22 2006
VIASPACE Inc., a company that transforms proven space and defense technologies from NASA and the Department of Defense into hardware and software solutions, announced today that its subsidiary, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation (DMFCC), has exercised an option and signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement with the California institute of Technology (Caltech) for three issued and six pending patents on direct methanol fuel cell technology. The patents include important technology on micro and miniature fuel cells for small portable applications. Larger fuel cells use stacks of bipolar plates, and the new patents cover a novel monopolar approach where the plates are arranged in a flat package which is suitable for smaller applications. Other intellectual property covered by this license agreement include an aerosol feed direct methanol fuel cell, and structures for the cathode and anode. DMFCC has issued 150,000 shares of its common stock to Caltech as consideration for this license, and has agreed to pay certain patent expenses associated with the prosecution and maintenance of patent rights under the license.
With this and two previous license agreements, DMFCC has now licensed a total of 56 issued and 62 pending patents on fuel cell technology from Caltech and University of Southern California. These patents cover much of the underlying technology and improvements related to direct methanol fuel cells, which should be needed by most fuel cell manufacturers and by OEMs that use fuel cells in their portable electronic devices. Patents have been issued in the US, Japan, Korea, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Europe, Israel and China. Additional patents are also pending in these countries.
DMFCC produces disposable methanol fuel cartridges that provide the energy source for laptop computers and other portable electronic devices that will be powered by direct methanol fuel cells.
Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CEO of both VIASPACE and DMFCC, commented, “We now have licensed all of the Caltech technology on low-temperature direct fuel cells using methanol and other organic fuels such as formic acid. We believe these patents will be necessary for any company developing direct organic fuel cells using a polymer electrolyte membrane, the process being used by many large commercial global electronic companies. DMFCC plans to provide fuel cell manufacturers and OEMs with needed patent protection under our umbrella as an incentive for them to use our fuel cartridges to power their portable electronic devices.”
The direct liquid organic fuel cell that uses a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) was jointly invented in 1992, and developed since then, by scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and at USC. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managed by Caltech for NASA. The JPL inventor team was led by Dr. Subbarao Surampudi and Dr. S. R. Narayanan. The USC team included Nobel Prize winner Professor George A. Olah, and Professor G. K. Surya Prakash.