Record Details

The Nanotechnology Patent ‘Gold Rush’

NOPR - NISCAIR Online Periodicals Repository

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Field Value
 
Title The Nanotechnology Patent ‘Gold Rush’
 
Creator Bawa, Raj
Bawa, S R
Maebius, Stephen B
 
Subject Nanotechnology
gold-rush mentality
patent thicket
 
Description 426-433
During the past decade, a swarm of patent applications pertaining to nanotechnology has been arriving at all the major patent offices of the world, including the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). As companies develop products and processes and begin to seek commercial applications for their inventions, securing valid and defensible patent protection will be vital to their long-term survival. In the decades to come, with nanotechnology further maturing and the promised breakthroughs accruing, patents will generate licensing revenue, provide leverage in deals and mergers, and reduce the like-lihood of infringement. Because development of nanotech-related products is extremely research intensive, without the mar-ket exclusivity offered by a US patent, development of these products and their commercial viability in the marketplace will be significantly hampered. In this paper, effects of ‘nanopatent gold rush’ that is underway by ‘patent prospectors’ as start-ups are highlighted whereby corporations compete to lock up broad patents in these critical early days. In fact, the entire US patent system is under greater scrutiny and strain, with the USPTO continuing to struggle with evaluating nanotech-related patent applications. It is unclear whether the nanotech industry will thrive like the information technology (IT) industry or get bogged down like the radio patent deadlock.
 
Date 2009-04-01T10:25:12Z
2009-04-01T10:25:12Z
2005-09
 
Type Article
 
Identifier 0971-7544
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/3675
 
Language en_US
 
Publisher CSIR
 
Source JIPR Vol.10(5) [September 2005]