VIASPACE Adds to Its Intellectual Property Portfolio
Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation Files Series of International Patents Covering Fuel Cartridges and Fuel Delivery Systems
PASADENA, Calif., July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VIASPACE Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: VSPC - News), a spin-off of NASA/Caltech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory that transforms proven space and defense technologies into hardware and software products that solve today's complex problems, announced today that it has further bolstered its intellectual property portfolio through the filing of a series of international patents covering fuel cartridges and fuel delivery systems for fuel cells by its subsidiary company Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Corporation (DMFCC). These fuel cartridges and fuel delivery systems enable laptop computers and other portable electronic devices to be powered by fuel cells, such as direct methanol fuel cells. The announcement was made by Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CEO of VIASPACE and DMFCC.
Fuel cells are expected to gain a substantial market share because they offer longer operating time as compared to current lithium ion batteries and may be instantaneously recharged by simply replacing the disposable fuel cartridge. A US Fuel Cell Council report conducted by the Darnell Group predicts that
105 million fuel cell powered electronic devices will be sold per year in 2011/2012. If each device uses two cartridges per month for their three-year lifetime, this is 7 billion cartridges per year. Direct methanol fuel cells are being developed for these applications by companies such as Toshiba, NEC, Hitachi and Sanyo in Japan, and by Samsung in Korea."Fuel cells and fuel cartridges will give the consumer freedom from the electrical grid," stated Dr. Kukkonen. "VIASPACE and DMFCC are providing the necessary advances in fuel cartridges to facilitate widespread adoption of fuel cells for portable power applications such as laptop computers and mobile phones."
The patent applications were filed by the leading intellectual property law firm of Fish & Richardson P.C.