OriginOil Sells Non-Core Patents to French Joint Venture Ennesys
French President François Hollande visits bioenergy start-up Ennesys to celebrate innovation and commercial momentum
Los Angeles, California and Nanterre, France – October 22, 2013 – OriginOil, Inc. (OTC/BB: OOIL) developer of Electro Water Separation™ (EWS), the high-speed, chemical-free process to clean up large quantities of water, today announced that it has agreed to transfer three of its early patent applications to its French joint venture, Ennesys.
The agreement followed a state visit by French President François Hollande in which the leader praised Ennesys as an innovative start-up with a technology ready to propel France toward meeting its ambitious renewable energy and green building goals.
“We’re delighted that Ennesys will be able to capitalize on our early inventions, which are no longer a core element of OriginOil’s intellectual property portfolio,” said Riggs Eckelberry, OriginOil CEO. “The agreement has the potential to boost future stakeholder interest and value through future royalties and reimbursement of R&D costs. As a founding shareholder we are proud to share directly in Ennesys’ success.”
In a speech to the nation made at Ennesys (official video), President Hollande praised Ennesys as an innovative startup, and recognized the need to help such innovators, especially in reaching energy and environmental regulatory goals.
The French Government’s “Innovation 2030” Commission, headed by Ms. Anne Lauvergeon, presented its findings in tandem with the site visit. President Hollande listened to a presentation by Pierre Tauzinat, Ennesys CEO, which outlined the company’s competitive advantages.
“We strongly recommend OriginOil as a partner,” said Tauzinat. “They have already provided us with effective technology for sanitizing sewage water and harvesting algae. Now with access to key inventions, we are well positioned to create a seamless technology platform and receive major funding from public and private parties.”
OriginOil innovated in all areas of algae production, filing patents for feeding carbon dioxide to algae, for improving growth lights and for generating energy in the form of hydrogen. In 2009, the company began to focus entirely on dewatering microalgae. Today OriginOil is a technology leader in the removal of all organic contaminants from large quantities of water.
The three inventions being transferred to Ennesys are Quantum Fracturing™, Optimizing Photosynthesis in Photo Bioreactor (the Helix Bioreactor™) and the Hydrogen Harvester™. Ennesys has agreed to repay OriginOil’s R&D costs for these patents at a future date, and to pay an ongoing licensing fee on revenue from the patents. In addition, OriginOil has the opportunity to benefit from the commercialization of these patents as a direct shareholder of Ennesys.
