DEERFIELD, Ill., March 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Fort James Corporation
(NYSE: FJ) and Micro Chef, Inc. have signed a Joint Development and Licensing
Agreement under which Fort James has become the exclusive North American
licensee for Micro Chef's patentable microwave packaging technology. Under
this agreement, Fort James and Micro Chef refine existing microwave packaging
concepts, develop additional approaches and obtain patent protection for the
technologies involved. They will also jointly market and promote these
technologies to accelerate commercialization of the packaging technologies in
conjunction with Micro Chef's trade secret microwave food formulation
technologies. Micro Chef will offer its food technologies directly to food
processors; these food technologies have been developed specifically to work
in conjunction with the microwave packaging technologies.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990204/CGTH023 )
Fort James will also administer a sublicensing program in North America to
sublicense other converters under the Micro Chef packaging technologies. In
addition, Fort James will work cooperatively with MSO Limited, of Belfast,
Northern Ireland, with whom Micro Chef has signed a European agreement, on
matters common to their respective agreements with Micro Chef.
Timothy H. Bohrer, Vice President of Technology for Fort James
Corporation's Packaging Business, said "We are pleased to conclude this
agreement with Micro Chef, which brings several innovative packaging concepts
to the partnership and whose food formulation skills are exceptional. By
adding Fort James' industry leading microwave packaging skills to the
partnership, we are confident that we will be able to accelerate the
commercialization of new, high quality convenience food products."
Roy Lee Mast, President of Micro Chef, commented, "This agreement with
Fort James offers enormous potential for achieving the concept of 'product
specific, packaging specific.' By working with Fort James, the industry
leader in microwave packaging, we look forward to providing food technology
that will move the convenience food market into the 21st century."
Micro Chef, Inc. is a Texas corporation whose primary goal is to provide
microwave food technology combined with a packaging concept that incorporates
moisture retention, distribution of heat, and partial shielding.
Fort James is a leading international consumer products company, serving
consumers both at home and away-from-home with bathroom and facial tissue,
paper towels, napkins, and cups and plates. The company's popular brands
include Quilted Northern, Brawny, Dixie, Vanity Fair, Mardi Gras, Green
Forest, Soft 'N Gentle and So-Dri in North America and Lotus, Tenderly,
Colhogar and Kittensoft in Europe. Fort James also produces folding cartons
for packaging food and pharmaceuticals and communications papers such as
printing, publishing and office copy paper. With annual sales of
$7.3 billion, the company has approximately 27,500 employees and more than
60 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada and 10 European countries.
SOURCE Fort James Corporation
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