MicroSalt makes progress in expanding patent portfolio

MicroSalt, which develops and supplies low-sodium, full-flavour salt, announced significant progress in expanding its global patent portfolio on Friday.

The AIM-traded firm - a Tekcapital investee that floated last year - said it had been granted a ‘Certificate of Invention’ patent in China for its ‘Improved Low Sodium Salt Compositions’, now issued as Chinese patent CN114206133.

It said the patent covered its low-sodium salt composition, which adheres salt to carrier particles, reducing sodium content by about 50%.

Additionally, the company said it had received a notice of allowance for its patent application in Mexico, adding that it expected the formal issue of the Mexican patent following payment of the final fees.

Similarly, the Australian Patent Office had accepted MicroSalt’s patent application, and an Australian patent was expected to be issued after the conclusion of a three-month opposition period.

The newly-issued and accepted patents built on the foundation of MicroSalt's existing United States patent 11,992,034.

The company also had pending patent applications for its low sodium salt composition in jurisdictions including Canada, Hong Kong, Chile, Japan, Europe, Brazil, India, and Russia.

“We are very pleased to witness the expansion of our intellectual property portfolio into some of the largest sodium markets in the world,” said chief executive officer Rick Guiney.

“We have made commercial inroads with customers in Asia, Europe and Australia and we see this development as very timely.”

At 1443 BST, shares in MicroSalt were down 2.94% at 33p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.