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Technology Stocks : Energy Conversion Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael Latas who wrote (4101)	10/9/1999 10:45:00 AM
From: Ray	Respond to of 8393

Sure hope you are right, Michael: "Remember, Stempel stated in his handout to the security analysts in New York in July that we would be announcing that a current Japanese consumer NiMH battery licensee would be entering into an agreement with ECD to mfg'r larger batteries. There was some speculation as to who it might be. And, Panasonic was one of the likely names that surfaced. Remember, Toyota has entered into a shared advanced technology agreement with General Motors. All of the pieces fit into place. All we need is for this to be confirmed." Thanks for reminding me of something important that I had all but forgotten. However, there are at least two apparent conflicts we need to address. One is that there has been no formal announcement that Panasonic now has acquired, by whatever route, the rights to ECD technology. The other is that the subject news announcement states "The battery was jointly developed by Panasonic EV Energy Co., a joint venture between Toyota and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.". Of course, the news announcement could simply be wrong -- or Toyota and Panasonic could be hogging the credits. It is not unusual for companies to claim a development for their own after doing only a, sometimes small, part of the whole -- perhaps only the cell packaging, in the case at hand. Actually, the cell packaging for EV use is not a trivial task, given the cooling problems, etc.. (As an aside, is this what Saft has done recently re their announcement of "their" new EV NiMh battery?) Whatever, I expect we will soon know more details about the battery Toyota is using. Could someone who knows specifically who to talk to call ECD for clarification?

To: Michael Latas who wrote (4101)	10/10/1999 9:46:00 AM
From: Michael Latas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8393

According to the rules of play, when it comes to signing up a new licensee, ECD, or any company that sells or grants a license to any company does not have to identify the name of the company. The agreement is "filed confidentially pursuant to Rule 24b-2". You can find our licensee's in the back of your current 10K, under Exhibits, starting on page 90. A good example is Item #10-28 License Agreement between the Company and a Japanese Battery Manufacturer filed confidentially pursuant to Rule 24b-2. Even those licensee's that are identified do not use our ECD identity on any of their products. This practice allows every mfg'r to convey to the public that this is their product, for better, or for worse. So, Matsushita/Panasonic could indeed become a large battery licensee under this confidentiality agreement and the public would never know it. That includes you and I. However, the good news is that we do get the royalties. Please understand, any company can mfg'r pretty well what ever they please without a license. However, providing the technology is protected by a current patent('s) they need to be licensed in order to sell it. Otherwise they are open to potential lawsuits. We would all like to see our ECD name in lights as much as is humanely possible, so that the public is aware of our signifcant technologies. But, that's not the way the game is played. The common practice is that each licensee takes the credit. The same rules apply to our phase change. Any mfg'r that wishes to use our phase change technology must get permission from ECD before doing so. And, there are a growing number of companies doing so. Our ECD name is never tied in with this technology. Again, that's just the way the game is played. But, we do receive the royalties. If we were mfg'g our batteries we could take all the credit we wished. Regards.