Nano-thickets: Setting Back Innovation

The burgeoning field of nanomedicine is already smothered with more than 5000 patent claims by different parties. In an article titled The Patent Land Grab in Nanotechnology Continues Unabated - Creating Problems Down the Road, Dr. Raj Bawa says:

"Patent thickets are considered to discourage and stifle innovation. 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.

Breakthroughs in nanotechnology may experience significant set-backs because of these patent thickets, resulting in delayed deployment of technologies that can save and extend lives.

See also:

• Why Drug Companies Don't Need Patents
• On the Necessity of Drug Patents