PatentGuy1
3 hours ago
There is a lot of illogical, inaccurate, incorrect, and inconsistent statements to unravel.
1. “ Apple holds exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal's amorphous alloy in consumer electronics, a partnership that began in 2010 and has been extended multiple times.”
TRUE
2. “ However, this agreement pertains to the use of the material in product components, not the "Liquidmetal" brand name itself.”
FALSE. The MTA specifically and explicitly grants Apple an exclusive worldwide, perpetual, license to LQMT technology, which by definition includes trademarks. Furthermore, there is an entire section (Article 2, section 2.5) devoted to specifying how trademarks are to be used.
3. “Trademark rights are territorial, meaning that a trademark registered in one country doesn't automatically grant rights in another.”
TRUE, but you seem to misunderstand what was licensed. LQMT licensed whatever IP rights had in every country in the world to Apple (in the field of CE devices). So, if LQMT had a trademark in country X but not in country Y, Apple got the rights to that trademark in X and nothing in Y. FYI-patents are also territorial.
4. “For example, Apple's exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal's alloy in consumer electronics do not necessarily extend to the "Liquidmetal" trademark in China.”
ILLOGICAL/FALSE. You are conflating Apple’s use of the alloy with trademarks. The MTA grants Apple the right to use the alloy and the use of trademarks, where both rights are restricted to the field of CE devices. With regard to China, the rights granted to Apple were worldwide, which includes China.
PatentGuy1
4 hours ago
QUOTE:
Apple does not own the Liquidmetal brand globally …
In short, while Apple can exclusively use Liquidmetal in its devices, Liquidmetal Technologies owns the brand and continues to operate in various industries.
END QUOTE
First, let me acknowledge that response is much more articulate than normal.
Second, let me remind that no one (or at least myself) said that LQMT doesn’t own the brand. I always refer to the license granted to Apple, not the ownership. In other words, the conclusion, is a straw man.
Third, one must be careful when using ChatGPT. A person needs to be careful when posting ChatGPT’s response, because it doesn’t always return correct information. For example, ChatGPT said the following:
QUOTE:
Did Apple Receive Trademark Rights in the MTA?
Yes, under the Master Transaction Agreement (MTA), Liquidmetal Technologies assigned certain intellectual property assets—including trademarks—to Apple. These trademarks were transferred to a special-purpose subsidiary, and Apple received exclusive rights to use Liquidmetal’s technology in the field of consumer electronics.
Does Apple Have the Right to Use the "Liquidmetal" Brand Name?
While Apple owns the trademarks assigned in the MTA, there is no evidence that Apple has used, or intends to use, the "Liquidmetal" brand name for marketing, product labeling, or commercial branding. The Liquidmetal Technologies company itself still uses the Liquidmetal name in its non-consumer-electronics business.
This suggests that while Apple legally controls certain Liquidmetal-related trademarks, it may have chosen not to use the "Liquidmetal" brand publicly.
END QUOTE
Clearly this is wrong because Apple doesn’t own the trademarks. Rather, Apple has a license to use them.
Moral: think before posting and question results from ChatGPT.
PatentGuy1
6 hours ago
(Reposted because quotations were missing when viewed on a tablet)
“What you fail to point out is that the lqmt branding is not shared with Apple. If Apple in any way shape and form decides they want to use our branding they will have to pay for that.”
For the love of god will you please read the MTA. Your statement is not only preposterous, but outright false and demonstrably false by any semiliterate person who has read the MTA. Such blatantly false statements demonstrate either a complete failure in understanding of the rights that LQMT licensed in perpetuity to Apple or a total disregard of the truth.
Facts:
1) Apple's license to Liquimental's IP includes trademarks:
"LMT Technology" shall mean any and all Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Rights that, at any time during the Capture Period, are: (a) owned or licensed (including, without limitation, sub-licensed) by LMT or LMC, or that LMT or LMC have a right to use; or (b) owned or licensed (including without limitation sub-licensed) by LMT-SPE, or that LMT-SPE has a right to use, after being transferred to LMT-SPE by LMT or LMC. For the avoidance of doubt, any Intellectual Property Rights related to or arising from Intellectual Property first created, conceived, invented, or discovered before the end of the Capture Period shall be deemed to be within the definition of LMT Technology.
See, MTA, section 1(a)(i)
(Intelligent people reading the MTA ask, what is Intellectual Property ? And, semiliterate people reading it find:)
"Intellectual Property" shall mean and includes, but is not limited to, all algorithms, alloys, application program interfaces, compositions, customer lists, databases, schemata, equipment design, design documents and analyses, diagrams, documentation, drawings, formulae, discoveries and inventions (whether or not patentable), know-how, literary works, copyrightable works, works of authorship, manufacturing processes, mask works, logos, marks (including names, logos, slogans, and trade dress), methods, methodologies, architectures, processes, program listings, programming tools, proprietary information, protocols, schematics, specifications, software, software code (in any form including source code and executable or object code), subroutines, user interfaces, techniques, uniform resource locators, web sites, and all other forms and types of technology (whether or not embodied in any tangible form and including all tangible embodiments of the foregoing such as compilations of information, instruction manuals, notebooks, prototypes, reports, samples, studies, and summaries).
See, MTA, section 1(a)(ii)
(Intelligent people reading the MTA ask, what are Intellectual Property Rights? And, semiliterate people reading it find:)
"Intellectual Property Rights" shall mean and includes, but is not limited to, all past, present, and future rights of the following types, which may exist or be created under the laws of any jurisdiction in the world: (a) rights associated with works of authorship, including exclusive exploitation rights, copyrights, moral rights, and mask works; (b) trademark and trade name rights and similar rights; (c) trade dress rights; (d) trade secret rights; (e) patents and industrial property rights; (f) other proprietary rights in Intellectual Property of every kind and nature; and (g) all registrations, renewals, extensions, combinations, divisions, continuations, continuations in part, reexamination certificates, or reissues of, and applications for, any of the rights referred to in clauses (a) through (f) above.
In case that isn't enough evidence for the reading impaired that Apple's license under the MTA includes LQMT's trademarks, please refer to the following sections:
(a) Annex 4, section B1, which states the following:
Assignment. Assignor hereby transfers, conveys and assigns to Assignee, effective as of the close of business on the Effective Date, all of Assignor's right, title and interest in the LMT Technology, now existing or hereafter arising until the date falling eighteen (18) months after the Effective Date, including, without limitation: all trade secrets and all patent registrations, patent applications, license agreements, and trademarks listed on Schedule 1 hereto. ...
(b) Schedule 1 which lists the assigned trademarks
(c) Article 2, section 2.5, which provides rules for how such marks are to be used.
Furthermore, there are many other sections of the MTA which make it abundantly clear that the marks were assigned to Apple in the field of Consumer Electronic devices.
Lastly, Apple has what is regarded as the strongest (or one of the very top) brands in the world. Nobody outside of us suckers cares about the LQMT brand. There is no benefit to Apple in slapping LQMT's brand on Apple's products. Nobody outside of the LQMT sphere of influence would care, and even if Apple did do it, Apple can do it for free on Consumer Electronics devices.
PatentGuy1
7 hours ago
What you fail to point out is that the lqmt branding is not shared with Apple. If Apple in any way shape and form decides they want to use our branding they will have to pay for that.
For the love of god will you please read the MTA. Your statement is not only preposterous, but outright false and demonstrably false by any semiliterate person who has read the MTA. Such blatantly false statements demonstrate either a complete failure in understanding of the rights that LQMT licensed in perpetuity to Apple or a total disregard of the truth.
Facts:
1) Apple's license to Liquimental's IP includes trademarks:
"LMT Technology" shall mean any and all Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Rights that, at any time during the Capture Period, are: (a) owned or licensed (including, without limitation, sub-licensed) by LMT or LMC, or that LMT or LMC have a right to use; or (b) owned or licensed (including without limitation sub-licensed) by LMT-SPE, or that LMT-SPE has a right to use, after being transferred to LMT-SPE by LMT or LMC. For the avoidance of doubt, any Intellectual Property Rights related to or arising from Intellectual Property first created, conceived, invented, or discovered before the end of the Capture Period shall be deemed to be within the definition of LMT Technology. See, MTA, section 1(a)(i)
(Intelligent people reading the MTA ask, what is Intellectual Property ? And, semiliterate people reading it find:)
"Intellectual Property" shall mean and includes, but is not limited to, all algorithms, alloys, application program interfaces, compositions, customer lists, databases, schemata, equipment design, design documents and analyses, diagrams, documentation, drawings, formulae, discoveries and inventions (whether or not patentable), know-how, literary works, copyrightable works, works of authorship, manufacturing processes, mask works, logos, marks (including names, logos, slogans, and trade dress), methods, methodologies, architectures, processes, program listings, programming tools, proprietary information, protocols, schematics, specifications, software, software code (in any form including source code and executable or object code), subroutines, user interfaces, techniques, uniform resource locators, web sites, and all other forms and types of technology (whether or not embodied in any tangible form and including all tangible embodiments of the foregoing such as compilations of information, instruction manuals, notebooks, prototypes, reports, samples, studies, and summaries). See, MTA, section 1(a)(ii)
(Intelligent people reading the MTA ask, what are Intellectual Property Rights? And, semiliterate people reading it find:)
"Intellectual Property Rights" shall mean and includes, but is not limited to, all past, present, and future rights of the following types, which may exist or be created under the laws of any jurisdiction in the world: (a) rights associated with works of authorship, including exclusive exploitation rights, copyrights, moral rights, and mask works; (b) trademark and trade name rights and similar rights; (c) trade dress rights; (d) trade secret rights; (e) patents and industrial property rights; (f) other proprietary rights in Intellectual Property of every kind and nature; and (g) all registrations, renewals, extensions, combinations, divisions, continuations, continuations in part, reexamination certificates, or reissues of, and applications for, any of the rights referred to in clauses (a) through (f) above.
In case that isn't enough evidence for the reading impaired that Apple's license under the MTA includes LQMT's trademarks, please refer to the following sections:
(a) Annex 4, section B1, which states the following:
Assignment. Assignor hereby transfers, conveys and assigns to Assignee, effective as of the close of business on the Effective Date, all of Assignor's right, title and interest in the LMT Technology, now existing or hereafter arising until the date falling eighteen (18) months after the Effective Date, including, without limitation: all trade secrets and all patent registrations, patent applications, license agreements, and trademarks listed on Schedule 1 hereto. ...
(b) Schedule 1 which lists the assigned trademarks
(c) Article 2, section 2.5, which provides rules for how such marks are to be used.
Furthermore, there are many other sections of the MTA which make it abundantly clear that the marks were assigned to Apple in the field of Consumer Electronic devices.
Lastly, Apple has what is regarded as the strongest (or one of the very top) brands in the world. Nobody outside of us suckers cares about the LQMT brand. There is no benefit to Apple in slapping LQMT's brand on Apple's products. Nobody outside of the LQMT sphere of influence would care, and even if Apple did do it, Apple can do it for free on Consumer Electronics devices.
PatentGuy1
11 hours ago
The short (but incomplete) answer is February 15, 2016.
Under the MTA, Apple acquired an exclusive license to LQMT’s IP as of the closing date AND for 18 months thereafter (the Capture Period). (Note the Capture Period end on 2/15/2016, and the LQMT-EONTEC PLA was signed in March, 2016, I.e., Apple has no right to Eontec IP.) Amendment 3 to the MTA, set the expiration of the Capture Period to 2/15/2016. Under the MTA, Intellectual Property first created, conceived, invented, or discovered before the end of the Capture Period shall be deemed to be within the definition of the licensed technology. This includes patents and trademarks filed before or after the Capture Period where the subject matter was conceived, invented or discovered during the Capture Period. So, it is conceivable that some patents filed after the Capture Period are actually licensed to Apple, and that is why I said that 2/15/2016 was an incomplete answer.
For the avoidance of doubt, any Intellectual Property Rights related to or arising from Intellectual Property first created, conceived, invented, or discovered before the end of the Capture Period shall be deemed to be within the definition of LMT Technology. Thus, for example, a patent application or copyright application filed, or any patent issued or copyright registration issued, more than five years after the Closing Date, but that is related to an invention conceived or work created within eighteen (18) months of the Closing date shall be deemed within the definition of LMT Technology. See, MTA.
The MTA clarifies that derivative work created, conceived, invented, or discovered after the Capture Period shall not be “LMT Technology”.
For purposes of clarification, however, improvements or derivatives of LMT Technology first created, conceived, invented, or discovered after the Capture Period shall not be “LMT Technology” notwithstanding the fact that such improvements or derivatives are derived from, improve, or otherwise relate to LMT Teclnology.
bobroo
14 hours ago
It Is With Profound Sadness
Today is the expiration of our agreement with Eutectix, it has been 5 years since the date of the contract.
Eutectix is the company that we essentially gave all our machinery, tooling, and ingots of BMG. These items supposedly went to a Eutectix location in a low rent section of a Arizona desert. Like all things LQMT business contract related (especially the PLA), the Eutectix contract was worded enough to get the point across but hardly definitive enough as a practical business contract as you would expect.
Here's the skinny: Eutectix takes possession (but not ownership) of all the machinery, tooling, and even the remaining Meterion pure BMG cylinders. They transport all of these items from Lake Forest to a Euctectix facility and Euctiectix can do with them as they wish. Even plug them in and create their own BMG items (there was some sort of vaguely defined kickback to LQMT if Eutectix were to sell anything). Or, they could revert both of our Engle machines back to their plastic injection moulding origin and do what ever with them. Eutectix BTW, seemed to be a fairly large outfit. They contract manufacture similar large production parts made of metal, plastic, or whatever. And there is this machinery buyer/seller component to them too. This combination of businesses always seemed strange to me; commonly you are either one or the other; never both. The contract period was for 5 years and it did offer opportunity for extension. As you should expect by now, the terms of an extension were no more than "Extension after 5 years is possible if both parties agree". I don't recall any verbiage what happens to the title of the equipment at the end of the contract period, but I am sure it is safe to assume that Eutectix takes ownership and then can do anything they want; meaning: Sell At Auction.
Why is this so sad? Well, it's sad for two reasons. One, it has been t the back of my mind to write this post for a year now. And I have had thoughts that this post would catch Tony Chung off guard and he would scurry together a contract extension in response. It should not take a random investor to waken LQMT up to do the simplest parts of their job.
But more so is is the infinite sadness of reason 2. You currently might be optimistic about Evie rings, Movano, and potential foldable Apple products. You might see promise with Lockheed Martin, guitar pins, canards, NASA, Apple Watch, or rail guns. But as a long term investor, I remember when we had equal euphoria about a new degateing machine, the purchase of a second Engle machine for $250,000, the improved process that Engle gave us, the overseas exposure Engle gave us, the amount of tooling dollars that would sometimes increase from quarter to quarter or the simple promise that the purchase of the larger Lake Forest location gave us. Well...all of that has exited stage left today. Much like how Lugee Li quietly slipped off the board of directors at Eontec and is equally slowly and quietly gaslighting us all and going to slip off into Asia without a word.
And all our equipment....we literally just gave all our shit away. :0(
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