Asetek, a leading supplier of liquid cooling for the computer industry, announced today that it has been granted three new patents for its integrated loop liquid cooling technology. The patents may change the market of liquid-cooling solutions significantly as they cover the very basics of sealed LCS.

Back in the days, liquid cooling was a prerogative of extreme enthusiasts as everything - waterblocks, tubes, pumps, reservoirs, etc. - had to be acquired separately, then manually assembled. Those hand-made liquid cooling systems were expensive, hard to use and leaked from time to time. As a result, water cooling was a technology used by extreme performance enthusiasts. But in 2002 little-known companies called Asetek and CoolIT introduced integrated loop sealed liquid-cooling kits that were efficient, ready to be used out-of-the-box and safe. The introduction of such devices not only popularized liquid cooling in general, but also created the market of complete liquid cooling solutions as Asetek and CoolIT were quickly followed by many others. However, only Asetek applied for patents describing the inexpensive liquid-cooling solutions...

“Asetek is an innovation company by DNA. These patents, some of which have priority back to 2003, spring out of our rich PC enthusiast heritage and our dedication to solving painful problems for our customers,” said André Sloth Eriksen, founder and CEO of Asetek.

Asetek further announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with a leading global marketer of integrated liquid cooling products that will enable the licensee to market both Asetek manufactured product and product utilizing Asetek Intellectual Property manufactured by certain other suppliers. This agreement enables Asetek to increase the rate of return on its investments in research and development.

“Our successful innovations have attracted several imitators. Although competition is a keen motivator for continuous innovation and operational excellence, innovation is expensive and as such we take out patents to protect our investments. This license agreement allows Asetek to reap the rewards of its innovations while providing the level of competition that keeps us sharp and is good for the overall liquid cooling market,” noted Mr. Eriksen.

Asetek is the world’s largest manufacturer of all-in-one, sealed loop liquid coolers and is committed to remaining so through a combination of competitiveness and continuing investments in R&D of liquid cooling and manufacturing technology. Going forward, the company will evaluate each imitator on a case-by-case basis within the context of the greater liquid cooling market, and may grant licenses or pursue other courses of action to protect and monetize its intellectual property.

According to some reports, Asetek has already sued CoolIT for patent infringement and is looking into possibilities to sue others. The company's official representative declined to comment on the licensee of Asetek's technologies as well as ongoing litigation.

Tags: Asetek, CoolIT, Corsair, Antec