Delft professor Boud Vogelesang regrets patenting “Glare”, the renowned airplane construction material.Professor Boud Vogelesang has “nothing but regrets” for patenting the light-weight aerospace construction material, Glare.
“The patent turned out to be an obstacle,” Vogelesang recalls in this week’s Delta. According to Vogelesang, the patent prevented him from publishing for a long time and also prevented other researchers from further studying Glare. Moreover, Vogelesang openly questions if the patent really was essential. “Knowledge is power. If you’re the best research team, they can’t ignore you anyway.”
The debate over patents is on the rise again in the Netherlands. The Dutch government believes that universities patent far too few of their discoveries%%especially compared to US universities.
In the years 1995-1999, Delft University of Technology, Holland’s leading patenting university, filed more than 50 patents. During that same time period, the University of California applied for and received 1,600 patents. And without patents, Dutch intellectual property dissipates, the government complains. But according to critics, Europe cannot really be compared to the US. Patenting procedures in Europe are at least five times more expensive than those in the US, because Europe lacks a unified
‘European patent’. Also, the Dutch reluctance to patent may have something to do with legal barriers. “If you bring in enough money, you’ll often find an obscure patent that looks a lot like the new patent. So, the party you are suing for infringing your patent might end up destroying your patent instead,” says
Eric Looyen, a patent lawyer.
Patent critic and professor of Chemistry, Piet Lemstra, says that the European legal system differs greatly from the USA’s. “If I’m suing a big, French company, there may be jobs involved. Judges are sensitive to that. In the US, there’s the jury system. And a jury of laymen might be inclined to side with the underdog, the lonely researcher.” The Dutch government is currently devising plans for urging Dutch universities to patent more frequently. Experts believe that universities and government will ultimately conclude that the laborious task of maintaining patents should be done by commercial companies.
Delft professor Boud Vogelesang regrets patenting “Glare”, the renowned airplane construction material.
Professor Boud Vogelesang has “nothing but regrets” for patenting the light-weight aerospace construction material, Glare. “The patent turned out to be an obstacle,” Vogelesang recalls in this week’s Delta. According to Vogelesang, the patent prevented him from publishing for a long time and also prevented other researchers from further studying Glare. Moreover, Vogelesang openly questions if the patent really was essential. “Knowledge is power. If you’re the best research team, they can’t ignore you anyway.”
The debate over patents is on the rise again in the Netherlands. The Dutch government believes that universities patent far too few of their discoveries%%especially compared to US universities.
In the years 1995-1999, Delft University of Technology, Holland’s leading patenting university, filed more than 50 patents. During that same time period, the University of California applied for and received 1,600 patents. And without patents, Dutch intellectual property dissipates, the government complains. But according to critics, Europe cannot really be compared to the US. Patenting procedures in Europe are at least five times more expensive than those in the US, because Europe lacks a unified
‘European patent’. Also, the Dutch reluctance to patent may have something to do with legal barriers. “If you bring in enough money, you’ll often find an obscure patent that looks a lot like the new patent. So, the party you are suing for infringing your patent might end up destroying your patent instead,” says
Eric Looyen, a patent lawyer.
Patent critic and professor of Chemistry, Piet Lemstra, says that the European legal system differs greatly from the USA’s. “If I’m suing a big, French company, there may be jobs involved. Judges are sensitive to that. In the US, there’s the jury system. And a jury of laymen might be inclined to side with the underdog, the lonely researcher.” The Dutch government is currently devising plans for urging Dutch universities to patent more frequently. Experts believe that universities and government will ultimately conclude that the laborious task of maintaining patents should be done by commercial companies.
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