Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
rapidly detected and its hazard easily identified. To date, a case by case approach
is still the only approach available for the risk assessment of NMs.
9.11 PATENT LANDSCAPE
With the projected market and impact in the health and life sciences, the patent
landscape in nanotechnology is gaining much attention worldwide. 441-444 Mar-
ket projections for NMs outweigh a lot of existing conventional industries
creating investment interest of exorbitant quantities. Much more research and
specifications in nanotechnology needs to be in place in order that faster reviews
of patents with less overlap can be issued. Various activities are soaring world-
wide as shown in the unprecedented increase in patents from different parts of
the world with the US leading the pack.
As in any new and emerging technology, the current state of intellectual
property related to nanotechnology is in chaos. It is very different from existing
technologies that broad patents on NMs, tools, and processes have been granted
too early. New patent applications have led to rejections of valid claims and the
issuance of broad-overlapping claims. These have been due to several factors
that are discussed in Chapter 8.
The identification of a new class of patents specifically assigned to nan-
otechnology in 2004, USPTO class 977 under 35 USC ยง8 (Classification of
Patents), the European Patent Office (EPO) has placed a Y01 N for nanotech-
nology, and the International Patent Classification has given it under the B82B
class has improved the patent scenario. 441-444 The Japan Patent Office (JPO)
have also made efforts to improve their classification systems to collect all nan-
otechnology-related patents in one single patent class under the JPO created
ZNM. 441 Databases have also been created that contains keywords that are used
by reviewers to relate the patent applications to nanotechnology.
To date, the nanotechnology patent applications worldwide showed a steady
increase in the United States and the European Union. 441 The nanotechnology pat-
ents of US origin accounts for additional 3700 nanotechnology patents per year,
or by 230% that may be attributed to the upsurge in the US nanotechnology R&D
budget from $116 M in 1997 to $270 M in 2000 and $960 M in 2004. 441 In 2003,
the biggest number of patents in nanotechnology is held by US (61% of the total
of 8630), followed by Japan (10.9%), Germany (8.1%), Canada (2.9%) and France
(2.2%) with substantial activities from Korea, Netherlands, Ireland, and China. 441
As predicted by a market research report wrote that sales of products
incorporating emerging nanotechnology will increase from <0.1% of global
manufacturing output today to 15% in 2014, totaling $2.6 T. 112,445,446 These
predictions indicates that nanotechnology's economic effect will come from the
application of NMs and not the raw NMs. The report projects that 16% of health
care and life sciences will incorporate nanotechnologies by 2014. 112,445,446 With
the diversity of NMs applications in medicine and the life sciences, potential
investment activity will upsurge causing the need for patents to be in place.
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