Tag Archives: NOtES

A patent for Nanotech Security Corp

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The Nov. 5, 2012 news item on Nanowerk is a bit confusing (to me, a neophyte) in regard to which enterprise actually holds the patent,

The patent (USA Patent No. 8,253,536B2) names the Company’s Director and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Bozena Kaminska and its Chief Technology Officer, Clint Landrock as co-inventors. The patent covers a number of core aspects of Nanotech’s technology including claims for the use of optically efficient nano-hole arrays as security features. The patent also claims the use of nano-scale structures that are smaller than a wavelength of light in conjunction with printable electronic components such as electronic displays, batteries and solar cells. Originally filed in early 2009, the patent has been assigned to Simon Fraser University where it is exclusively sub-licensed to Nanotech pending its transfer to a Nanotech affiliate upon completion of its Advance Royalty obligations schedule to complete next year.

If I understand this rightly, Nanotech Security Corporation which is licencing the patent from Simon Fraser University (SFU) will be passing the licence on to a spinoff or affiliate company in 2013 while the parent corporation continues to develop other technologies for commercialization. SFU not Nanotech Security Corporation nor any proposed affiliate holds the patent rights.

In the company’s November 5, 2012  news release (which orignated the news item), they refer to USA Patent No. 8,253,536B2 as a parent-patent and here is what SFU and/or Nanotech Security Corporation claimed in this patent,

The patent encompasses the structure, design and manufacturing process for NTS’s security technology, NOtES®, which deploys a controlled array of extremely tiny holes that can be quickly imprinted in large numbers directly onto virtually any surface, creating a vibrant, crisp, ultra high definition image. This highly sophisticated authentication feature replicates nano-scale (billionth of a meter) light-reflective structures similar to those found in nature, for example on the iridescent wings of certain butterflies.

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Mr. Blakeway [Doug Blakeway, CEO and Chairman] added, “This parent patent is at the foundation for not only further uses and new designs in the security and authentication space, but branches out to many other applications involving nano-optics with extremely high optical efficiency – including solar cell technologies. [emphases mine] We believe that nano-optic technology is in its infancy, and has huge potential for growth.”

I wonder what SFU and Nanotech Security Corporation are planning to do with their new patent. I hope it won’t be used in an attempt to kill competition. There’s at least one other Canadian company  (Opalux mentioned in my Jan. 31, 2011 posting) which works with optically efficient nano-hole arrays and at least one team in the UK (mentioned in my May 20, 2011 posting) also working in this area.

As for my concern, it’s widely acknowledged internationally that the patent systems are causing problems as per a sample of my previous postings on patents, copyright, and/or intellectual property,

UN’s International Telecommunications Union holds patent summit in Geneva on Oct. 10, 2012

Billions lost to patent trolls; US White House asks for comments on intellectual property (IP) enforcement; and more on IP

Patents as weapons and obstacles

I’m not arguing against the underlying intent for patents and copyright. The laws were designed to stimulate invention and innovation by insuring that the creators were compensated for their efforts.  Sadly, that intent has been lost and today we have situations where research and creativity are stifled due to ‘copyright and patent thickets’.

Opalux, Inc., another Canadian company with an anti-counterfeiting strategy

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On the heels (more or less) of my Jan. 17, 2011 posting about the Simon Fraser University-related start-up company, Nanotech Security, and its anti-counterfeiting technology based on the Morpho butterfly, I came across an article about a University of Toronto-related company, Oplaux, and its anti-counterfeiting technology which is based on opals and, again, the Morpho butterfly.  The Canada Foundation for Innovation article provides some details in the Fall/Winter 2009 issue of its Innovation Canada online magazine,

Inspired by the iridescent colours found in nature, such as butterfly wings, researchers at Opalux, a University of Toronto spin-off company, are recreating nature’s colours using nanotechnology. The “photonic colour” product that results can be switched on and off, offering applications in currency dyes and perishable food packaging. (p. 3)

The company is focused on more than anti-counterfeiting measures (as opposed to Nanotech Security) and food packaging, there’s also work being done on,

… a rechargeable battery whose changing surface colour indicates how much charge the battery currently holds and how much rechargeable life remains? (p. 3)

Opalux, derives its name and inspiration from opals (as well as, the Morpho butterfly mentioned previously). André Arsenault, one of Opalux’s co-founders and Chief Technology Officer, synthesized work from two researchers (Geoffrey Ozin and Ian Manners) at the University of Toronto to develop the notion of a ‘tunable and opal-like crystal’,

Ozin’s research involved the creation of synthetic nanostructures that, when exposed to light, mimic the visual qualities of an opal, the mineral renowned for its ability to appear as all colours of the rainbow. Manners was looking into producing artificial materials, particularly an iron-based polymer that could carry an electrical charge. For his thesis, Arsenault combined the two concepts to create a “tunable” opal-like crystal — a material in which you could control extremely rapid colour changes.

If you are interested in Opalux, the website is here. By contrast here’s a description of the work done by the researchers and nascent entrpreneurs at Simon Fraser University (SFU), from the Jan. 17, 2011 news release,

Imagine a hole so small that air can’t go through it, or a hole so small it can trap a single wavelength of light. Nanotech Security Corp., with the help of Simon Fraser University researchers, is using this type of nano-technology – 1,500 times thinner than a human hair and first of its kind in the world – to create unique anti-counterfeiting security features.

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Landrock and Kaminska [Chris Landrock and Bozena Kaminska, SFU researchers) both continue their work as part of Nanotech’s scientific team. The company’s Nano-Optic Technology for Enhanced Security (NOtES) product stems from an idea originating in the purest form of nature – insects using colorful markings to identify themselves.

How this works is microscopic gratings composed of nanostructures interact with light to produce the shimmering iridescence seen on the Costa Rican morpho butterfly. The nanostructures act to reflect and refract light waves to produce the morpho’s signature blue wings and absorb other unwanted light.

There you have it, two different approaches to anti-counterfeiting and the beginnings of a possible case study about innovation in Canada.