Nanotechnology Patents

Which Countries and Companies are Leading the Way in Nanotechnology Patenting?
Researchers from the University of Arizona and the US National Science Foundation examined nanoscale science and engineering patents at the US Patent & Trademark Office from 1976-2003. 12 They found that 8,630 nanotech-related patents were issued by the US PTO in 2003 alone, an increase of 50% over the previous three years. The top 5 countries represented were: US (5,228 patents), Japan (926), Germany (684), Canada (244) and France (183). The top 5 entities winning nanotech-related patents included four multinational electronic firms and one university: IBM (198 patents), Micron Technologies (129), Advanced Micro Devices (128), Intel (90) and University of California (89).
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