Apple renews exclusive rights to Liquidmetal in consumer products into 2015
According to an SEC document filed on Wednesday, Apple and Liquidmetal have entered a deal to extend an exclusive license to use the exotic metal in consumer products through Feb. 2015, marking the second time the companies decided to prolong their mutual agreement.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filing notes the companies entered into a second amendment to the original exclusive rights deal first signed in August 2010, which was itself extended in 2012 under a first amendment.
Until now, Apple's most public use of Liquidmetal -- the commercial name for a special bulk amorphous alloy -- has been limited to a SIM card ejector tool, though it is feasible that the material may already be in use in small unseen internal device parts.
In 2012, the inventor of Liquidmetal, Dr. Atakan Peker, said Apple was two to four years away from mass producing the alloy for large scale projects like chassis parts for an iPhone or iPad. At the time, Peker said there is "no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology."
Liquidmetal is classified as an amorphous, non-crystalline material and is some 2.5 times stronger than titanium alloy commonly used in consumer products. The alloy is also 1.5 times harder than stainless steel found in portable electronic devices. Before Apple's exclusive license, Liquidmetal was first hit consumer products in 2003 in medical equipment, sporting goods and special applications by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The new agreement gives Apple another year of exclusivity before patent rights revert back to Crucible Intellectual Property, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquidmetal Technologies.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filing notes the companies entered into a second amendment to the original exclusive rights deal first signed in August 2010, which was itself extended in 2012 under a first amendment.
Until now, Apple's most public use of Liquidmetal -- the commercial name for a special bulk amorphous alloy -- has been limited to a SIM card ejector tool, though it is feasible that the material may already be in use in small unseen internal device parts.
In 2012, the inventor of Liquidmetal, Dr. Atakan Peker, said Apple was two to four years away from mass producing the alloy for large scale projects like chassis parts for an iPhone or iPad. At the time, Peker said there is "no suitable manufacturing infrastructure yet to take full advantage of this alloy technology."
Liquidmetal is classified as an amorphous, non-crystalline material and is some 2.5 times stronger than titanium alloy commonly used in consumer products. The alloy is also 1.5 times harder than stainless steel found in portable electronic devices. Before Apple's exclusive license, Liquidmetal was first hit consumer products in 2003 in medical equipment, sporting goods and special applications by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The new agreement gives Apple another year of exclusivity before patent rights revert back to Crucible Intellectual Property, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liquidmetal Technologies.
Comments
Besides a tiny SIM tray, Apple hasn't really made much use of Liquidmetal yet.
They obviously have bigger plans for it, or they wouldn't have extended the agreement.
http://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/watchmaking/liquidmetal
Omega made a watch using liquid metal, although it was a limited edition so maybe they don't make them any more.
http://www.omegawatches.com/planet-omega/watchmaking/liquidmetal
They don't make them anymore. Not many were ever made.
I see some going on ebay for around 7-8 K USD.
Looking forward to a fully Liquidmetal electric car.
Seems odd to only renew for 1 year if this is for iWatch. I don't get it.
That might be a restriction set by the licensing company, not Apple.
Seems odd to only renew for 1 year if this is for iWatch. I don't get it.
Apple has an exclusive license forever for use of liquid metal in electronic devices. These extensions are a separate agreement for apple and liquid metal to form a joint company to develop manufacturing processes to make parts. Once the tech to manufacture parts in liquid metal is developed and paid for by apple the manufacturing goes back to liquid metal. But Apple keeps the rights forever for use in the electronic devices.
Its the same deal there doing with GTE and sapphire. Apple is paying for the development and processes of making parts in sapphire with GTE and in return they get first dibs at using sapphire. GTE who could not afford to develop manufacturing gets the plants and mass production tools they need. They then pay apple back for the investment. Same thing with liquid metal. Apple gets permanent use rights in electronic devices and liquid metal gets the manufacturing plants and tools for use for everything else basically for free.
The agreement is not the window of time in which they can use lqmt, but rather the window of time in which all patents and discoveries by Apple and lqmt themselves are mutually usable. For example, in February of this year, right after the timeframe for the last agreement expired lqmt came out with a new formula that didn't use beryllium, a very toxic substance. Now that the agreement's been extended Apple can have full access to that new recipe, my understanding is, forever. Additionally they already have a forever exclusivity agreement on lqmt in consumer electronics.
Maybe by then Apple will create a product that uses it.
Maybe by then Apple will create a product that uses it.
Would be nice to see something other than a sim ejector tool lol!
It could be argued that technically a sim ejector tool is not itself an "electronic" device.
I invested in GTAT, looking forward to that taking off.
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/43525/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
Real innovation in hardware and software research takes time particularity if you want to be ahead of the competition and make a profit from it, the hot air companies like Google, Netflix, and Amazon are running on vaporware and Wall Street continues to lap it up.
Long AAPL, ARMH, GTAT, and LQMT.