Houston and Kemah, Texas, Aug. 31, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American International Industries, Inc. (OTCBB and OTCQB: AMIN) today announced that its 50% owned subsidiary, Subsea IP Holdings LLC ("Subsea"), has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") for one of its eight (8) patent applications, U.S. Patent Application No. 12/840,907. The required fees have been paid, and Subsea’s first U.S. Patent is expected to be issued by the end of October, 2011.
Scott Wolinsky, President of Subsea, stated "We are making excellent progress towards our goal of obtaining patent protection on various procedures and apparatus for containing subsea oil spills by using a large caisson on seabed leaks near a wellbore. It is our understanding that Marine Well Containment Company ("MWCC" http://marinewellcontainment.com/), headed by ExxonMobil, has plans to design, develop and test a watertight caisson that is approximately 50 feet in diameter and 200 feet tall, and may be driven into the seabed and used to direct oil and gas flows to the ocean surface through a riser assembly."
Mr. Wolinsky further stated "Subsea has submitted a presentation and proposal to ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company and ExxonMobil Development Company after signing a non-confidentiality agreement. We believe that many of the features of the MWCC’s caisson may be described and claimed by our patent applications, which have a priority date that was established before MWCC was formed."
For more information regarding Subsea, please visit their website at http://www.subseapatents.com/.
Subsea is a holding company for an intellectual property ("IP") portfolio associated with various procedures and apparatus configurations that may be implemented to contain oil and/or gas that is uncontrollably spewing due to a subsea blowout, such as what occurred during the 2010 BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico, at least until a relief well can be drilled.
American International Industries, Inc. is a diversified holding company, with a business model similar to General Electric, Tyco International, and Berkshire Hathaway. The Company has holdings in Industry, Finance and Oil & Gas, and has a significant Real Estate portfolio, all in Houston, TX and its surrounding areas. The vision of the Company is to further develop holdings in its core industries and plans to expand its interests in the energy sector through acquisition of existing companies, applying the financial resources and management expertise to foster the growth and profitability of the acquired businesses. The holding company serves as a financial and professional partner to the management of the subsidiaries. The role of the holding company is to improve each subsidiary’s access to capital, achieve economies of scale by consolidating administrative functions, and utilize the financial and management expertise of corporate personnel across all units. The Company is continuing to work with management of the subsidiary companies to improve revenues, operations and profitability.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management’s view of the Company’s future expectations, plans and prospects, within the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Any statements made in this news release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those that we may anticipate in each of our segments reflected by our subsidiaries' operations include, among others:, continued value of our real estate portfolio; the strength of the real estate market in Houston, Texas as a whole; the ability to expand its interests in the energy sector; increased levels of competition; the dependence upon financing, the rules of regulatory authorities and risks associated with any potential acquisitions. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of the Company, its divisions and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. These risk factors and others are included from time to time in documents the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, its Form 10-Ks, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks. Other unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company’s future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by the Company.