NEC Demands License Fees For Carbon Nanotubes

apirkle writes "As reported in this article on EEtimes.com, NEC has claimed today that they own 'essential patents' on carbon nanotubes, and that all companies who make or sell nanotubes must purchase a license. NEC has a press release stating that they have already sold a license."

Comments

Greedy

[addie]

Greedy, greedy, greedy. Take some responsibility, take a hit for the future, realize that you're part of the world too. Carbon nanotubes have the potential to be everywhere, from space elevators to shoe laces to medical devices. NEC should step back and work on a plan that would allow their technology to be used by other companies, but the credit can still go to NEC. Money ain't everything.

Sorry for the disjointed rant, but this is a very annoying announcement.

Re:Greedy

[tolan-b]

Unfortunately money is everything when it comes to companies... It's all about shareholder value :(

Re:Greedy

[addie]

I do understand what they're trying to do. My problem is with the fact that there have been researchers the world over working on carbon nano-tubes for years, using different methods and achieving different results.

I suppose the patent process will distinguish what is what, but is a carbon nanotube a carbon nanotube, no matter what process was used to produce it? What I'm saying is, does the patent apply to the end result or the process itself?

I just don't want to see such a valuable invention huddled away in a proprietary corner.

tricky

[ajagci]

I think it used to be the case that (for the most part) you couldn't claim a patent on a substance, only on its manufacture and its applications. That seems pretty sensible to me.

Sadly, that principle seems to have eroded away, and there are many patents on substances now that cover all future applications and ways of manufacturing them. Seems to me like that runs against the purpose of the patent system: to encourage useful innovation. I mean, if you can just claim all possible ways of manufacturing a substance and all possible ways of using it by just describing the substance, why would anybody else want to invest in finding better ways of manufacturing it or new applications for it?

In any case, this particular patent should run out in less than a decade, so it probably won't be all that significant.

references

[Avishalom]

1. Dave Barry wrote an important piece concerning nanotube application (in layperson's terms , carbon nanotubes are nanotubes made of carbon)
It also talks about those dummy close door elevator buttons (whose cousins, the crosswalk buttons were talked about a lot)

2. the original title was Dave Barry: Lawyers needed, many, to test space elevator , i'll get to that in a second.


OK let sum it up
youv'e got

a - a women suing her successfull son for slander (or ST) trying to get rich.
b - a women pretrnding to fall over in a day after Xmas DVD sale to sue the company (didn't it turn out that it was the 16th time she sued them ... (while being employed))
c - companies patenting facts, ideas , linux code.
d- a women suing (and winning) a department store claiming she sprained her arm tripping over a toddler (her own child)
e - a man suing his neighbor (and getting 5 figures) claiming the dog attacked him (which is true except that "he started it" by repeatedly shooting the dog with a BB gun)
(i appologize for not citing the reference but you can google for outrageous lawsuits to see that i downtoned)
These are syndromes of a society with too many lawyers, coupled with distorted get rich quick ideas


------ why don't all these people just meet up with wealthy nigerian businessmen/inheritors and split the $20,000,000,023.85 that just needs a resourceful individual like yourself ..

Re:NEC

[KingOfBLASH]

..the SCO of the Science World.

Actually this is a situation where patents may be doing what they're supposed to -- providing financial incentive for researchers. If NEC has, indeed, put in the research dollars to develop carbon nanotubes, they should reap the benefits of the use of their research.