It’s interesting, as I start this new project of tracking the intersection of alternative energy and intellectual property, I did some quick searching regarding a few companies in the news in the last week.  For example, OriginOil, Inc. issued a press release discussing the great potential of algae-to-oil technology.  I did an assignee search at the US Patent Office and OriginOil has no issued patents and no published (but not yet issued) patents.  Now, it may be the case that OriginOil is so new that it’s patent applications are not yet published (filed less than 18 months ago), but not having any patents even published yet is curious.

I then did a search to see how many patents have published, that are assigned to any company, that have “algae” and “oil” in the patent abstract - only 25.  Issued patents with algae and oil in the abstract - only 27.  It sure seems like there is plenty of opportunity for gaining valuable technology rights in the algae-to-oil arena.  Is the technology still too new, or have these start-ups not taken advantage of the exclusivity rights the patent system affords?

More analysis to come to see if this is a trend in all alternative energy fields, or just an abherration.

UPDATE:  OriginOil has apparently filed four patent applications - none of which have published.