Tag Archives: J. Steven Rutt

Patent bonanza in nanotechnology (sigh)

This is more of a snippet than anything else but since it touches on patents and nanotechnology, I’ve decided to post this excerpt (from J. Steven Rutt’s Jan. 2, 2013 posting on JD Supra Law News),

The nanotechnology patent filing boom continues. In 2012, the USPTO [US Patent and Trademark Office] published 4,098 nanotechnology class 977 applications, which represents a 19.2% increase over last year. By way of comparison, in 2008, the USPTO published only 827 nanotechnology applications, and in 2009, only 1,499. Hence, the number has almost tripled in three years.

Rutt is a lawyer with Foley & Lardner LLP and he’s much happier about this news than I am. Of course, a lawyer is much likely to profit from this trend than anyone else (except maybe for a patent troll). My Nov. 23, 2012 posting (Free the nano—stop patenting publicly funded research) highlights some alternative perspectives.

Nanotechnology for Defense Conference call for abstracts

The deadline for abstracts is Feb. 18, 2012 for the Nanotechnology for Defense Conference (NT4D) in Summerlin, Nevada from Aug. 6 – 10, 2012.

J. Steven Rutt in his Feb. 4, 2012 article for Cleantech & Nano notes,

Defense is one of the fundamental and perhaps the most stable pillar for nanotechnology commercialization, along with other pillars such as bio nanotechnology and energy.  The history of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) interest in nanotechnology is noted in the Foreward of Ratner and Ratner’s book, Nanotechnology and Homeland Security 2004 (written by James Murday, Office of Naval Research).  The DoD interest in nanotechnology can be “clearly identified as early as the late 1970′s when its Ultrasubmicron Electronics Research (USER) program.”  [sic]IT

I have a longstanding interest in the military and its nanotechnology research so I find this call for abstracts quite piquant, from the conference call for abstracts page,

We look forward to receiving your abstracts for the 2012 NanoTechnology for Defense Conference. Submitted abstracts must be unclassified and should be no more than 300 words long. In early March 2012, you will be contacted regarding the status of your acceptance. Final presentations will be due 9 July 2012. This event is conducted at the ITAR level and therefore presentations given at the Symposium do not need to be cleared for public release. However, presentations and papers should not contain proprietary information and may not be more restrictive than Distribution X (Distribution authorized to U.S. Government Agencies and private individuals or enterprises eligible to obtain export-controlled technical data in accordance with DoD directive 5230.5 under the provisions of Public Law 98-94). All abstracts should fall into one or more of the described topics on the previous pages.  Please note, presentation of an abstract does not waive any applicable registration fees.

Full and open abstracts are preferred, however we will accept ITAR restricted abstracts. Acceptable distribution levels include A or X ONLY.  To find more information on distribution levels, visit http://www.usasymposium.com/nano/security.htm.  Please note:  ITAR ABSTRACTS MUST BE PASSWORD PROTECTED.

ITAR restricted? Distribution A and X levels? It all seems reminiscent of tv programmes like the X-Files and Fringe.

For anyone who’s interested in making a submission (despite the resemblance to X-Files and/or Fringe), conference organizers are looking for abstracts on these topics and others (from the Rutt article),

The current call for abstracts at the 2012 NT4D Conference focus on (1) Nanotechnology Success Stories, (2) Nanotechnology for Military Coatings Applications, (3) Nanotechnology for Chem-Bio Defense and Battlefield Casualty Care Medical Applications, (4) Nanomaterials Response to Extreme Stimuli, and (5) Nanoelectronics.  However, the scope is broad as topics in the following areas will be considered: …

For anyone like me who isn’t familiar with Nevada, Summerlin is partly in Las Vegas according to the Wikipedia essay,

Summerlin is an affluent 22,500-acre (9,100 ha) master-planned community under development by The Howard Hughes Corporation in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada near the Spring Mountains and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It lies partially within the city limits of Las Vegas, Nevada, and in unincorporated Clark County. Summerlin, named for Howard Hughes’ grandmother, Jean Amelia Summerlin, ranked as the country’s best-selling master-planned community for more than a decade by Robert Charles Lesser & Co.and continues to rank among the top ten best-selling communities in the country some 19 years after development first began.

I have removed links and citation notes from the Wikipedia essay excerpt.