Re Patents:
As a Valence long, I have some comfort in Valence's patent effort, although I don't pretend to know the significance of them. And I certainly don't base my investment in Valence on them - I am much more concerned about the state of the production lines, ie, their capacity, throughput, and battery quality.
My own experience with patents is largely confined to biotechnology, and there at least I do know that for the first year, ie, until notice is published overseas, most of us really don't know what is filed, either by our own companies or by competition. A good example: I recently saw a business plan for several distinguished physicists and microbiologists seeking venture funding based upon a broad patent filed in protein amplification. Yet I know that one company on whose board I sit filed commanding patents 6 months prior to the date these folks have stated they filed. We really won't know until our own patents issue just how solid they are.
Regarding Valence, I remember several discussions with more than one senior manager at Valence wherein they were very excited about several new materials being used (patents applied for) in the laminate and elsewhere in the production process - these were apparently lighter and and less costly from which to make the batteries. I also remember that Valence has claimed that their batteries require no cobalt whatsoever, and apparently this is reasonably proprietary. So this is where I would look at if I spent the time researching all the relevant patents - which I am not going to do for lack of expertise, however. |
