Houston & Kemah, Texas, April 27, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American International Industries, Inc. (OTCBB: AMIN) today announced that its 50%-owned subsidiary, Subsea IP Holdings LLC ("Subsea"), has received two Notices of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") for U.S. Patent Application Nos. 12/842,475 and 12/948,236. Subsea's second and third U.S. Patents are expected to be issued in June, 2012.
The claims in U.S. Patent Application No. 12/842,475 are directed towards a subsea oil spill containment assembly having at least one mud flap that may be activated to protrude from or retract into a wall of the containment assembly to control the depth that the containment assembly sinks to below the ocean floor.
The claims in U.S. Patent Application No. 12/948,236 are directed towards a method and apparatus for containing a subsea oil spill by using a containment assembly and a valve assembly that are each independently reinforced to withstand the extremely high pressure of oil and/or gas spewing from a "wild well" that has experienced a subsea blowout caused by, for example, a defective blowout preventer (BOP).
Subsea's first U.S. Patent No. 8,025,103 was issued on September 27, 2011, and is the only patent issued by the USPTO thus far that specifically addresses methods and apparatus for containing an oil spill similar to the one caused by the 2010 BP/Macondo accident.
Subsea has several other pending patent applications that have not yet been examined.
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. For more information regarding Subsea, please visit their website at http://subseapatents.com.
American International Industries, Inc. ("American" or the "Company") is a diversified holding company of subsidiaries with interests in the automotive and consumer retail industry, real estate, oil well site supply and services, intellectual property, and the acquisition of petroleum resources in the United States, coupled with international exploration. The vision of the Company is to expand its interests in the energy sector through the acquisition of existing businesses, and apply its financial resources and management expertise to improve each subsidiary's revenues, operations and profitability. As part of American's strategic planning, American acquires and sells certain assets, including subsidiaries and properties, from time to time, to take advantage of market opportunities. Follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/americanii_AMIN
Forward-looking Statement:
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.