21.6.90 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 152/3 
Notice published pursuant to Article 19 (3) of Regulation No 17 (') concerning a notification 
(IV/33.253 — Alupower-Chloride) 
(90/C 152/03) 
A. Subject of the notification 
The firm Alupower Inc. notified a set of agreements on 
cooperation with the firm Chloride Limited on 31 July 
1989. The cooperation between the two firms involves 
the setting-up of a joint venture for the joint devel­
opment and manufacture and the joint distribution of an 
aluminium-air battery. 
B. The undertakings concerned 
1. Alupower, whose registered office is in 
Bernardsville, United States, belongs to the Alcan 
Aluminium Limited Group, which has its registered 
office in Montreal, Canada, and is a leading interna­
tional aluminium producer. 
2. Chloride Limited, whose registered office is in 
London, United Kingdom, is a leading manufacturer of 
stand-by batteries and batteries for defence purposes. 
The firm belongs to the Chloride Group pic. 
3. The joint venture 'Alupower-Chloride Limited', 
which has its registered office in Manchester, United 
Kingdom, is owned and controlled equally by the two 
parent companies. 
C. The product covered by the agreements 
The subject of the cooperation is an Al/Air battery, still 
to be developed, which is to be marketed together with 
lead/acid or other rechargeable batteries supplied by 
Chloride or other battery manufacturers. Such batteries 
are stand-by batteries used primarily by operators of 
telecommunications networks for emergency use during 
periods when there is a breakdown in the power supply. 
Lead/acid batteries are suitable only for short periods of 
emergency use, since their energy is used up after a 
maximum of 12 hours. The Al/Air battery, by contrast, 
has a longer operating period of at least 48 hours. 
However, it is not suitable for immediate use, since it is 
ready for operation only after an initial start-up period. 
Consequently, during relatively long periods of power 
breakdown, both batteries are used in combination, with 
the lead/acid battery providing power supplies initially 
and being automatically replaced after a certain period 
by the Al/Air battery. 
D. Cooperation agreements 
In implementation of the cooperation project, the 
following agreements have been concluded, economically 
forming a whole and combining to form a single set of 
agreements: 
(') OJ No 13, 21. 2. 1962, p. 204/62. 1. Joint venture agreement between Alupower and 
Chloride on the setting-up of the joint venture company 
Alupower-Chloride. 
(a) The purpose of the joint venture is to finalize the 
development and manufacture of the Al/Air battery 
and to market it together with lead/acid or other 
rechargeable batteries supplied by Chloride or other 
battery manufacturers. 
(b) The activity of the joint venture is confined to 
stand-by energy. Batteries for propulsion or traction 
systems, primary sources of power or marine 
purposes are excluded from the permitted field of 
(c) So long as they are shareholders in the joint venture, 
Alupower and Chloride are prohibited from 
competing with the joint venture within the 
European Community. 
2. Two licensing agreements between Alupower, the 
joint venture and Chloride. 
(a) Alupower and Chloride grant the joint venture a 
licence to use their technology for the purposes of 
finalizing the development of the Al/Air battery, 
manufacturing it in the United Kingdom or other 
Member States and selling it with or without 
lead/acid or other rechargeable batteries supplied by 
Chloride or other manufacturers. 
(b) Alupower and Chloride grant each other a licence to 
use their technology, but only for the purpose of 
assisting the joint venture to accomplish its 
objectives. They may not use the technology for any 
other purposes. 
(c) Alupower and Chloride are prohibited from granting 
third parties licences for the manufacture or 
marketing of the product covered by the agreements. 
(d) The parties do not have any right of sublicence with 
respect to the technology made available to them. 
(e) Alupower must pass on customer inquiries and sales 
opportunities regarding the product to the joint 
venture. 
(f) Alupower may not manufacture or market the 
product during the term of the agreements. 
(g) Alupower and Chloride will continue their own 
research and development, since these are necessary 
in order to assist the joint venture. 
NoC 152/4 Official Journal of the European Communities 21.6.90 
(h) The parties must exchange with one another any 
newly-acquired technology relating to the product. 
(i) The joint venture may sell the product without any 
additional battery if the customer so wishes. 
However, the joint venture should endeavour to 
market the product together with lead/acid or other 
rechargeable batteries supplied by Chloride. In any 
case, it is required to purchase its lead/acid or other 
rechargeable batteries from Chloride, unless the 
customer wishes to purchase the product with a 
battery of another manufacturer. 
(j) The licensing agreements will continue in effect for 
ten years or for the life of the patents. The Commission does not intend to take any action 
under Article 85 of the EEC Treaty in respect of the 
agreements specified under D, a summary of which is 
published above. These proceedings may be terminated 
by means of an administrative letter from the Direc­
torate-General for Competition. Before doing so, the 
Commission invites all interested third parties to submit 
their observations within one month of the publication of 
this notice, quoting the reference IV/33.253 — 
Alupower-Chloride, to: 
Commission of the European Communities, 
Directorate-General for Competition, 
Directorate for Restrictive Practices, Abuse of Dominant 
Positions and other Distortions of Competition I, 
200, rue de la Loi, 
B-1049 Brussels.