Patents and Intellectual Property Management in Nanotechnology Standardization: A NIST Perspective

A. Jillavenkatesa, H. Evans, and H. Wixon

9/02/2015

As a rapidly emerging technological field with great promise and potential for economic, societal and technological benefit, nanotechnology is of particular interest to technology developers, consumers and policy makers because it has a direct connection to consumers. Consumers already use products that incorporate nanotechnology, or use materials that are derived from nanotechnology. Future use is likely to expand significantly. Standardization for nanotechnology will play an important role in catalyzing developments that lead to broader uptake of nanotechnology. Closely related to standardization is the issue of intellectual property, particularly, how patented technologies may be incorporated within standards. This paper analyzes the current state of nanotechnology standardization, patented technologies being incorporated in nanotechnology standardization, and the intellectual property rights (IPR) policies of standards developing organizations (SDOs) where nanotechnology standardization is currently underway.