Trends in Australian Nanotechnology Patent Filings

This article first appeared in The Watermark Journal Vol 23 No 4 (December 2006)

A brief review of the Australian Patent Office database has been conducted with the aim of gaining an understanding of nanotechnology patenting trends in Australia.

The review located PCT applications which entered the national phase in Australia, and non-PCT applications filed in Australia, over a period of nearly five years (collectively referred to below as “applications”). A search was conducted to locate applications which include either “nano” in their title or the IPC nanotechnology classification “B 82”.

Figures 1 and 2 show the most prevalent applicants (including co-applicants) and inventors (including co-inventors). The most notable feature of the data is the dominance of United States-based applicants and inventors.

The information provided is for indicative purposes only. The data was drawn from the Australian Patent Office’s Patsearch database, as at 4 December 2006. The coverage of the database, as searched, was as follows:

innovation patent applications filed from 24 May 2001; and standard complete and provisional patent applications filed, and

PCT applications which entered the national phase, after 5 July 2002.