OK, I’m not normally going to come out on the side of increased regulation, but this is OBVIOUSLY one area where some work needs to be done. For all the hype I’ve heard over nanotech, most of it just resides on the premise ‘When this breaks its gonna be huge!’. Not disagreeing with that, we have a situation where a flurry of papers not only can stifle innovation in the future, but leads to a situation where the technology developed is not necessarily going to be used – but is going to stake out more territory for future development. A cyclical system which is not the healthiest.
Nanotechnology Patents Surge
As Companies Vie to Stake Claim
By ANTONIO REGALADO
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
June 18, 2004; Page A1
The new-frontier buzz around nanotechnology — the effort to develop infinitesimally small structures into futuristic products — has companies, universities and investors hustling for patents, the key to markets that the government estimates at $1 trillion by 2015.
But the intensifying race to file patent applications has sparked concern that a proliferation of patents, especially broadly defined ones, could hobble innovation and produce a thicket of conflicting legal claims that could eventually drive up costs for consumers. In addition, the combination of scant products to date and surging investor interest raises fears of another high-tech bubble.
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