Ovonic Battery Enters Into Patent License Agreement with BYD Battery Co.

Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD, Troy, MI) announced that its subsidiary, Ovonic Battery Company Inc. (Troy, MI), has entered into a patent license agreement under its proprietary nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery technology with BYD Battery Co., Ltd. (China). Under the consumer battery license grant, BYD has a nonexclusive, royalty-bearing right to make, use and sell consumer nickel-metal hydride batteries for nonpropulsion applications. Stanford R. Ovshinsky, president and CEO of ECD and CEO of Ovonic Battery, and Robert C. Stempel, chairman of ECD and Ovonic Battery, in a joint statement said, "It is particularly heartening to see companies from the People's Republic of China following the Chinese official policy of utilizing science and technology as a basis for their continued economic growth, and joining the rest of all significant manufacturers of NiMH batteries who are licensees."