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Mr. Rendall further testified that the patents were
worthless without his knowledge “of how to make * * * [them]
work.” But, assuming arguendo that the patents were useless
without Mr. Rendall’s knowhow in exploiting them, it is
undisputed that, as of December 31, 1997, Mr. Rendall was still
the CEO of Solv-Ex, and that, in Mr. Rendall’s own words, he and
the patents were “united for [the] future.”
Another reason for at least cautious optimism, as of
December 31, 1997, regarding Solv-Ex’s prospects for financial
recovery was the potential commercialization of Solv-Ex’s Ti02S
technology (a titanium dioxide substitute for whitening paper and
other materials, hereinafter included in the term “retained
technology”). Mr. Rendall testified that they “had” the
“product” in January 1998, that “it was an excellent product”,
and that, in February 1998, he went to Venezuela, where, the
following April and May, he was able to enter into two MOU’s with
Venezuelan companies for the production and marketing of pigment
using the Ti02S technology.15
15 We infer from Mr. Rendall’s testimony and from the
representation in the amended disclosure statement filed in the
U.S. bankruptcy proceeding on June 23, 1998, that aspects of the
Ti02S technology had been “demonstrated previously in the Solv-Ex
Research and Pilot Plant facility in Albuquerque” that the
technology was either developed or in the final stages of
development as of Dec. 31, 1997.
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