The Quantum Patent Race: Is the UK Being Left Behind?
Recently, I carried out a ‘Friday Afternoon’ task and looked at the subject of quantum computing. My particular purpose was to try and get an understanding of the current stage of development of the technology as there are conflicting views on this, and not a little hype.
Given my day job and ready access to specialist databases, I decided on a quick search of the patent literature on the subject. Although the resulting patent documents brought forward were interesting, the information provided on the applicants caught my attention, and not in a good way. Amongst the top 50 applicants ranked by number of applications filed, I wasn’t able to identify a single UK-based entity. Granted this wasn’t an in-depth review of the patent literature, but it does point to a sobering situation.
What is clear is that, as Mark Saunders recently wrote in Physics World, the ‘quantum revolution is no longer a distant dream. It is unfolding right now, promising to revolutionise computing, communication, and security on a global scale. The race to harness these transformative technologies will not be determined by who succeeds in manipulating qubits, but by who can secure the ideas that make this technology possible. Intellectual property is the currency of innovation, and in the quantum era, it will determine whether breakthroughs become valuable assets or lost opportunities.’
Many people are reluctant to consider filing a patent application in this technical field as they believe that protecting computer-related inventions in this way is not allowed. This is a widespread myth, which like most myths is mainly fantasy. There are literally thousands of granted patents to hardware and software. It is certainly important that the application be drafted carefully to ensure that the invention claimed does not fall into certain excluded categories (the kernel of the myth), but this can normally be achieved, especially given the experience we have in this area.
Written by Paul Harrison, Senior Patent Associate, for ip21