Such technology rights are the subject of an exclusive licensing agreement between Water Power Technologies LLC (WPT), a wholly-owned subsidiary of HAE, which the company previously reported as having acquired in December 2009, and HAE.
HAE believes that the basic design of the technology set forth in the patent pending applications will save approximately two to three years of research and development, since WPT has already developed a working prototype and HAE’s engineering firm, Parametric Solutions, Inc, has detailed working knowledge of the technology comprising the prototype device.
HAE acquired such patent technology rights from the inventor, Harry ‘Skip’ Robinson, a former WPT unit holder and now a Company shareholder, in consideration for: (i) $5,000; (ii) a guarantee on the part of HAE to pay certain vendor fees owed by the inventor in connection with the preparation of the patent applications; and (iii) an earned running royalty agreement between HAE and the inventor which provides for HAE to pay the inventor an earned running royalty rate of 1% based on the net selling price of patented products sold using the technology, commencing with the first sale, for the duration of HAE's patent rights.
"We are very excited about this patent rights technology acquisition and believe that it will accelerate our efforts to produce working turbines for clean, low cost electric energy production and deployment in slow moving water in areas not yet currently serviced," said Mark Antonucci, Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of HAE.
The company is currently developing a system to convert ocean and tidal currents into usable energy through its planned Hydro Power Generation System. It believes the turbine described within the patent pending applications will allow the system to generate more power than originally estimated.
