The Novonix Ltd (ASX: NVX) share price is ending the week on a positive note.
In morning trade, the battery materials and technology company's shares are up almost 3.5% to 75.5 cents.
What's going on with the Novonix share price today?
Investors have been buying the company's shares after it announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with its long-time technology partner, Harper International Corporation.
Harper International describes itself as a global leader in complete thermal processing solutions and technical services essential for the production of advanced materials.
According to the release, the two parties have signed an agreement for the rights and use of Harper International's continuous, induction-based graphitisation furnace technology.
The release notes that four years ago, Novonix and Harper International announced a strategic partnership to develop innovative graphitisation furnace technology to be used to produce synthetic graphite anode material for the lithium-ion battery sector.
This partnership provided for commitments from Novonix to purchase from Harper International, and from Harper International to develop and exclusively supply Novonix with proprietary systems for thermal processing material for the battery anode market.
What else?
Novonix advised that the licensing agreement also provides it with the right to an exclusive license to Harper International's technology on which its continuous graphitisation furnaces operate.
Upon making an initial payment within 12 months of the effective date of the agreement, the company will have the exclusive license to use the technology to further develop the furnaces used for the thermal production of graphite material for use in the battery anode market.
And upon equipment meeting certain performance objectives, and Novonix's payment of additional licensing fees, the license will then expand to include its right to build equipment using the licensed technology. This is either internally or through other permitted sublicensees.
Harper International's technology certainly could come in handy at Novonix's Riverside facility, which is located in Tennessee, United States.
It is poised to become the first large-scale production site dedicated to high-performance synthetic graphite for the battery sector in North America. The company advised that it is targeting the commencement of commercial production later this year and has plans to grow its output to 20,000 tonnes per annum to meet current customer commitments.
The Novonix share price is now up approximately 15% since this time last year. Though, it remains down heavily on a two-year basis.
