Nanotechnology companies have only themselves to blame for the sluggish rate at which their US patents are being awarded.
That was the message at a recent Department of Commerce meeting in Portland, Oregon, when undersecretary for technology Robert Crescanti heard start-ups complaining that delayed patent decisions are losing them the chance to raise crucial venture capital. Crescanti countered that the delays are the result of firms poaching nanotech-trained examiners en masse from the US Patent and Trademark Office in Washington DC to draft their own patents.
San Francisco-based patent expert Greg Aharonian says the problem goes beyond nanotech: “Delays in…
