EnWave Corp. (TSX-V:ENW) is taking patent ownership for its dehydration technology in-house.
The Vancouver company said Tuesday that it would buy the patents and know-how it licenses from the University of British Columbia (UBC) to gain control of its Radiant Energy Vacuum (REV) dehydration technology.
The first REV machine was developed at UBC in 1996.
The device uses a combination of microwave energy and vacuum pressure to quickly dehydrate food.
EnWave has agreed to pay UBC $5.5 million in cash and shares for the patents.
Under the deal, UBC would receive a maximum of 1.5 million shares, or approximately 2% of EnWave outstanding shares.
“This agreement will strengthen EnWave’s global market leadership in vacuum microwave technology as we offer our customers unique technology alternatives to replace conventional drying methods,” said John McNicol, president and co-CEO of EnWave.
The agreements means EnWave would have no further royalty or other financial obligations to UBC for the technology.
In December, the company paid $1.5 million in cash and shares to a private German company for two patents that were also related to vacuum dehydration technology.
At press time, EnWave’s shares were up 12% to $2.