Haydale HDPlas® Process Granted European Patent

Haydale has announced that it has received confirmation from the European Patent Office (EPO) of the decision to grant a European Patent for its proprietary HDPlas® functionalisation process for graphene and other nanoparticulate materials.

The European Patent is the key process patent underlying the Company's proprietary functionalisation treatment and is one of a number arising from the families of patent applications surrounding Haydale's unique plasma functionalisation process. Haydale already has a granted patent in China and has visibility on the patent application in Australia, which is expected to proceed to grant within the next 3-4 months.

Crucially, the European Patent is not limited to graphene or carbon materials but also covers all nanoparticles. Whilst Haydale's immediate focus remains on commercializing graphene and other nanocarbons, this important award means that the Haydale process can now be extended in Europe to a wide range of alternative materials thereby considerably extending the future opportunities and applications using its HDPlas® fictionalization process.

Furthermore, the receipt of the European Patent will allow Haydale to grant licenses of its plasma process to graphene producers or applications houses throughout Europe. This patent grant ensures that Haydale can implement its development strategy knowing that the Company's key intellectual property is protected.

Ray Gibbs, Haydale Chief Executive commented "We believe that this new European patent provides us with significant credibility amongst existing and potential customers across our target markets. Independent published research here in the UK and in the USA demonstrates the benefits of our HDPlas® process and we now have customers placing repeat orders. In addition we have a number of industrial partnerships in place to develop the next generation of advanced materials that will benefit from the use of our functionalized graphene".

He concluded "Now that we have our HDPlas® functionalisation process protected by patent this gives us great belief and confidence that Haydale is in a unique position to benefit from the adoption of graphene enhanced materials by a range of industries."