Nanotechpatents

Nanotech patents that have been issued has grown from a measly 45 in 1999 & 180 in 2001 TO 2500 in 2004.One of the reasons for the rise is that a number of folks are attaching nano to a lot of processes and applying for patents. To clarify the patent definition, US PTO announced it had created a new classification for nanotechnology patents.
US PTO announced it had created a new classification for nanotechnology patents.
Classification 977 includes only those patents 1) whose subject matter is in the scale of approximately 1-100 nanometers in at least one dimension; and 2) that involve materials, structures, devices or systems that have novel properties and functions because of their nanoscale size.