leading innovator of proprietary sound reproduction technologies and
products, today announced that it has signed a design and
manufacturing licensing agreement with ECCO Group (ECCO), the world's
largest manufacturer of backup alarms for commercial vehicles. The
agreement covers the initial licensing and product development of
ATC's SoundVector technology to ECCO and its affiliates for backup
vehicle alarms and similar uses. The agreement includes technology
transfer, product development assistance and upfront licensing fees,
with royalties payable, based on unit volume production. The agreement
is renewable on an annual basis after an initial three-year term, with
further fees due upon each renewal. For competitive reasons, financial
terms of the agreement are not being disclosed at this time. ATC
expects to recognize revenue from this agreement this quarter and
on-going revenues in fiscal 2006 and beyond.
SoundVector is a patent-pending, directional sound technology for
replacing today's noisy omni-directional alarm signals such as backup
alarms, sirens, hazard signals, and train whistles. SoundVector is the
latest audio technology innovation from ATC's advanced development
group headed by James Croft. In addition to SoundVector, ATC is
Shaping the Future of Sound(R) by offering an extensive line of
directed sound solutions including award-winning HSS(R), NeoPlanar(R),
and LRAD(TM) technologies and products.
"We are pleased to be partnering with industry leader, ECCO, on
our recently developed SoundVector technology," said Bruce Gray, vice
president of ATC's commercial business group. "SoundVector provides
very directional sonic focus to backup alarms, alerting only those
individuals behind vehicles that are enabled with its unique
capabilities."
"We are very excited to be working with ATC to bring their unique
sound shaping technology into the automotivemarket," said Ed Zimmer,
president and chief executive officer of ECCO Group. "Our first
product together will focus the backup alarm sound to the hazard zone
at the rear of the vehicle, greatly reducing jobsite noise and driver
irritations. Other vehicle sound shaping applications are expected to
quickly follow.
"SoundVector will be the biggest innovation to backup alarms since
ECCO introduced the Smart Alarm(R) over 20 years ago," concluded
Zimmer. "The Smart Alarm(R) measures ambient noise and automatically
adjusts the sound output to the appropriate level. We feel SoundVector
will be the next generation Smart Alarm(R)."
About ECCO Group
ECCO Group is the world's largest manufacturer of backup alarms
and amber warning lights for commercial vehicles. ECCO supplies over
1500 distributors and 500 vehicle manufacturers worldwide.
Headquartered in Boise, Idaho, ECCO has manufacturing plants in Boise,
England, Australia, and China. All plants are registered to ISO
9001:2000. ECCO is employee owned. For more information on ECCO and
its products, please visit www.eccolink.com.
About American Technology Corporation
American Technology Corporation is Shaping the Future of Sound(R)
by developing, manufacturing and globally distributing its proprietary
sound technologies and products which include: the award-winning
HSS(R) (HyperSonic(R) Sound technology), LRAD(TM) (Long Range Acoustic
Device), NeoPlanar(R) planar magnetic technology, and others. The
Company is establishing a strong portfolio of patents, trademarks, and
intellectual property including over 215 U.S. and foreign patents and
patent filings to date. For more information on the company and its
technologies and products, please visit our web site at www.atcsd.com.
Safe Harbor statement under the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995: Except for historical information contained
herein, the matters discussed are forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. You should
not place undue reliance on these statements. We base these statements
on particular assumptions that we have made in light of our industry
experience, the stage of product and market development as well as our
perception of historical trends, current market conditions, current
economic data, expected future developments and other factors that we
believe are appropriate under the circumstances. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those suggested in the forward-looking
statements, including but not limited to ECCO's efforts to develop and
market products under the agreement, market acceptance of the
SoundVector technology in the vehicle-mounted alarm marketplace, entry
of competitors, the possibility our intellectual property protections
will not prevent others from marketing products similar to or
competitive with the SoundVector technology, potential technical or
manufacturing difficulties that could delay products to be sold under
the agreement, possible government regulations, general economic and
political factors which influence buying decisions, and other risks
identified and discussed in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on
information and management's expectations as of the date hereof.
Future results may differ materially from our current expectations.
American Technology Corporation disclaims any intent or obligation to
update those forward-looking statements, except as otherwise
specifically stated.
CONTACT: ATC Commercial Products Group
Darci Beauchamp, 858-679-3112
darci@atcsd.com
or
ATC Investor Relations:
Robert Putnam, 858-679-3168
robert@atcsd.com
or
Media Inquiries:
Don Mathias, 949-855-4520
dwmath@aol.com
KEYWORD: 'UNITED STATES' 'NORTH AMERICA' 'CALIFORNIA'
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: 'TECHNOLOGY' 'HARDWARE' 'OTHER TECHNOLOGY'
'MANUFACTURING' 'AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURING' 'OTHER MANUFACTURING'
SOURCE: American Technology Corporation
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