Journal articles
Intellectual Property and Competition Law
Intellectual Property and Competition Law
The nanotechnology patent thicket revisited
The nanotechnology patent thicket revisited Journal of Nanoparticle Research 20 (2018), 28.09.2018 (
Despite all predictions and promises, nanotechnology still seems to be more of an emerging science than a fully fledged revolution. More often than not, the patent system is blamed for this, supposedly tangling up nanotechnology in an impenetrable thicket of exclusionary rights instead of setting it free. Drawing on methods of complex network analysis, we provide empirical evidence suggesting that, at least in Europe, there is actually no patent thicket present in nanotechnology. Yet, the situation appears to be different in the USA.