Synthetic biology has its roots in biotechnology and has to deal with a vast number of existing intellectual property rights. With its highly complex products the intellectual property rights situation of synthetic biology is comparable to the situation in the IT industry. One product can involve hundreds of patents which makes cross-licensing patents inevitable and will cause inadvertent infringement of patents. Biotechnology firms have to learn how to adapt to the new circumstances. Firms have to strike new paths to remain innovative and repel emerging threats like patent trolls.

Philipp PFINGSTAG
TU Munich – School of Management – Technology and Innovation Management, Germany
Philipp Pfingstag graduated from the University of Zurich in 2013 majoring in Chemistry and Business Studies. During his studies he conducted his own “biohacker” project. In the same year he started his PhD supervised by Prof. Henkel at the chair for Technology and Innovation Management at Technische Universität München. As part of a European research consortium on Synthetic Biology he works on economic dimensions and ramifications of biological standards.