Image Courtesy of
Webster Lab
INSTRUCTOR:Raj Bawa, MS, PhD, FAAN, Bawa Biotechnology Consulting
DATES: September 26-28, 2007 [3 Day Course]
LOCATION: Washington, DC
This course is a practical guide for scientists, lawyers and the layperson that explores the landscape of invention protections and intellectual property as they relates to the emergence of nanotechnology goods, products and services. This course will examine the roles played by the U.S. Patent Office, Congress, the FDA, and the EPA; the commercialization of nanotechnology and considerations for investors; and how current efforts may change the future of relevant patent law.
TUITION: US$1900.00
REGISTRATION: Closes August 24, 2007 or when full.
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COURSE DETAILS:
The high risk, high payoff global nanotechnology phenomenon is in full swing as innovations at the intersection of engineering, biotechnology, medicine, physical sciences, and information technology are spurring new directions in research, education, commercialization and technology transfer. In fact, the future of nanotechnology is likely to continue in this interdisciplinary manner. Clearly, there is an enormous excitement and expectation regarding nanotechnology's potential impact. However, securing valid and defensible patent protection will be critical in this regard. Although commercial nanotechnology is at a nascent stage of development, there are quiet a few nanoproducts on the market with numerous other potential applications under consideration and development. On the path to that goal, significant technologic advances across multiple scientific disciplines will continue to be proposed, validated, patented and commercialized. While early forecasts for nanotechnology commercialization are encouraging, there are bottlenecks as well. One of the major hurdles is an emerging thicket of patent claims, resulting primarily due to patent proliferation but also because of the continued issuance of surprisingly broad patents by the US Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). Patent systems in general are under greater scrutiny and strain, with patent offices around the world struggling with evaluating the swarm of nanotech-related patent applications. Add to this, the fact that the US National Nanotechnology Initiative's widely-cited definition of nanotechnology is inappropriate for many sectors of nanotechnology, most notably bionanotechnology and nanomedicine. This has resulted in somewhat skewed recently-unveiled nanotechnology patent classification system. All of this is creating a chaotic, tangled patent landscape in various sectors of nanotechnology (e.g., nanoelectronics and nanomedicine) where the competing players are unsure as to the validity and enforceability of numerous issued patents. Patent reforms are urgently needed to address problems ranging from poor patent quality and examination practices to inadequate search capabilities and a skyrocketing patent application backlog. Only a robust patent system will stimulate the development of commercially viable nanotechnology products. Therefore, if the current dense patent landscape becomes more entangled and the patent thicket problem worsens, it may prove to be the major bottleneck to viable commercialization.
The lectures will also highlight critical patent issues and scenarios that are likely to take center stage in the near future and impact nanotechnology commercialization: formation of patent pools, cross-licensing activity, patent litigation, Congress's effort at reforming the US patent system, an overhaul of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 and the Supreme Court's increased recent scrutiny and interest in patent law.
The following topics will be briefly discussed in the context of nanotechnology: