The Use of Biotechnology Patents in Austria and their Impact on Private and Public Research

The analysis on the use of patents in biotechnology in Austria and their impact on business R&D and academic research is based on a survey conducted among Austrian biotech firms and academic research institutes in 2011. The survey covered the entire population of biotech companies and research institutes most of which are active in medical and pharmaceutical research. It focused on the use of patents and the impact of prior art on the patenting and research activities of companies and research institutes. The results show that most companies make strategic use of patents insofar as they try to set up broad patent portfolios or seek to keep competitors out of their markets. As a consequence most companies seem to face problems typically related to patent thickets and crowded prior art when filing patents. However, companies appear to have learnt to cope with the situation by carrying out extensive patent searches to ensure freedom to operate during all phases of a research project. The results also show that the research activities of companies and research institutes are in general not negatively affected by patents on research tools. For academic research institutes patents are typically the result of cooperations with business partners rather than a trigger for cooperations with the business sector. Patenting by academic research institutes seems to affect neither research productivity nor the direction of research at these institutions. On the contrary, academically more prolific institutions file more patents.