June 4, 2007 — The New York Times is reporting substantial news in nanotechnology IP today: Harvard University plans to license more than 50 current and pending patents — based on work in chemistry professor George Whitesides’ Harvard lab — to Nano-Terra of Cambridge, Mass., a company Whitesides cofounded.
“The deal could transform the little-known Nano-Terra into one of nanotechnology’s most closely watched start-ups,” reports the Times. The story quotes Isaac T. Kohlberg, who has overseen the commercialization of Harvard’s patent portfolio since 2005, as saying, “It’s the largest patent portfolio I remember, and it may be our largest ever.” According to the Times, Nano-Terra has spent more than $2 million to file the patents.