Sitkana's new patent covers how its tidal generator looks, not how it works

Sitkana, Inc. of Juneau now holds 15 years of protection on the exterior form of a floating tidal generator. A design patent protects appearance rather than mechanism.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued patent US D1,145,703 S on Tuesday, naming Lance D. McMullan of Juneau as inventor and Sitkana as assignee. McMullan is the company's founder and chief executive. The application was filed March 14, 2024.

An earlier Sitkana patent describes a submerged housing with a turbine on a shaft, tethered by cable to a float on the surface. Its background cites remote cities in Southeast Alaska.

That function is covered by Sitkana's separate utility patent, No. 12,709,853, granted last month for a buoy-mounted anchoring system meant to keep power flowing to shore as tidal currents reverse.

The company says it built a fourth-generation prototype this year, Chinook V4, which generated, controlled and stored power from an ocean current.