Here's an educational posting from Red Herring on the "next big thing" for the VC set, Nanotechnology. Needless to say, it's all about the IP. It's interesting that a MOC class is still in the making for nanotech, so as the article points out it's not even clear what's prior art from the point of view of the USPTO yet.
K. http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=11866&hed=Nanotech+Patents+Proliferate With 3,818 U.S. patents awarded and 1,777 patent applications awaiting judgment, the young nanotechnology field has an unwieldy mess of intellectual property (IP), according to a study released Thursday. Lux used the metaphor of a gold rush to describe the current mentality of nanotech entrepreneurs. University and corporate researchers file patent applications at every turn, betting that the patents will generate lucrative licenses.
