WASHINGTON – The Sherwin-Williams Company has secured a Limited Government Purpose License for a patented non-skid coating developed at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, according to an announcement Monday.
The polysiloxane non-skid coatings, protected by U.S. Patents 9,006,307 and 9,034,946, have extended durability. And the license allows Sherwin-Williams to make, use, and sell the coatings directly and solely to shipyards or contractors performing maintenance, repair, or new construction of vessels owned by the U.S. Government.
“The polysiloxane non-skid coating developed by NRL represents a significant advancement in technology over standard products available on the market today,” said Mark Schultz, business development manager in Sherwin-Williams’ Protective & Marine Coatings division. “This novel solution with extended durability and excellent color retention, the polysiloxane nonskid coating doesn’t chalk, discolor or fade, and can be rolled or spray-applied – helping minimize waste, increasing efficiencies in the coatings maintenance process, and reducing overcoating for aesthetic purposes. This combination of benefits has been well received by the U.S. Navy.”
“We are very appreciative of our long-standing partnership with NRL. The innovation, testing, and evaluation of forward-looking technologies has produced tangible results for our customers in terms of lowering total ownership cost and effectively maintaining ship schedules,” said Bryan Draga, global vice president of marketing for Sherwin-Williams Protective & Marine Coatings. “Sherwin-Williams has been uniquely qualified to bring the MIL-Spec products and technologies to the market thanks to our quality manufacturing processes and MIL-Spec controls.”
And Sherwin-Williams’ formulation was submitted for the Department of Defense Qualified Products Database evaluation and qualified under military specification MIL-PRF-24667 for a Type V non-skid coating, according to NRL’s announcement.
Technology Transfer
The licensing process was handled by NRL’s Technology Transfer Office where private companies, universities, and other government agencies can find opportunities to accelerate the development and transition of new and innovative technologies.
“NRL’s wide breadth of intellectual property are available for use at no cost by the private sector in performance of awarded U.S. Government contracts,” said Holly Ricks-Laskoski, senior partnership manager at NRL’s Technology Transfer Office. “Leveraging NRL’s intellectual property in this way is an opportunity for cost savings for our government contractor partners.”
And in contrast to some tech transfer agreements that involve fees, NRL offers no-cost GPLs on any of its 1,200+ patented or patent-pending technologies and protected software.
“NRL is open and we are looking forward to working with you,” Ricks-Laskoski said.