How The Nanotech Patent Thicket Problem May Stifle Innovation
from the fun-for-everyone dept
cheesedog writes "In an article titled, "The Patent Land Grab in Nanotechnology Continues Unabated - Creating Problems Down the Road, Dr. Raj Bawa outlines the problem with the fact that over 5000 patents have now been granted over nanotech and nanomedicine, despite the fact that no products have really made it to the marketplace yet: "Patent thickets are considered to discourage and stifle innovation" says Bawa. "Claims in such patent thickets have been characterized as often broad, overlapping and conflicting -- a scenario ripe for massive patent litigation battles in the future." According to Bawa, nanomedicine start-ups may soon find themselves in patent disputes with large, established companies, as well as between themselves. In most of the patent battles the larger entity with the deeper pockets will rule the day even if the innovators are on the other side." No doubt that there are some breakthroughs being made -- but it sounds like the situation is going to get quite messy, very quickly. When it reaches the point that it becomes difficult to do any research at all without considering the patent consequences, we're harming scientific research -- which is the exact opposite of what the patent system is supposed to be doing.
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The sooner the better
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Re: The sooner the better
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Will it add up to anything?
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Better a patent then ‘Copyright’
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Another obstacle in research
How can we patent basic ideas in some abstract technology
like nanotech most of which is on paper ,without any concrete products,what if companies go on to patent ideas in femtotech and picotech both non existent ,,,
then any one who comes up with any thing concrete is called a patent violator
its like patenting discoveries ....
remember some one in australia who tried to patent the wheel
bye
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Re: Another obstacle in research
This would get rid of process patents and many software patents, since the general practice is patent first, implement later. This would require implementation first, the protect a unique and innovative product. Hey, if two companies develop nearly the same thing at the same time and attempt to patent, the concept is obviously obvious. Let them compete instead of getting their monopoly.
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Necessary Evil?!
Clearly some company abuse patents (read NTP) - but I don't see the open-source community or others heavily investing time, money in patentable innovations and giving those innovative methods (paper or prototype) away with no means to recoup the associated risk / cost.
My 2 cents.
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