A patent thicket is "an overlapping set of patent rights" which requires innovators to reach licensing deals for multiple patents.[1] This concept has negative connotations and has been described as "a dense web of overlapping intellectual property rights that a company must hack its way through in order to actually commercialize new technology".[2]
- ^ Digital Opportunity, A review of Intellectual Property and Growth, An independent report by Ian Hargreaves Archived 2013-01-12 at the Wayback Machine, May 2011, page 18.
- ^ Shapiro, Carl (2001). "Navigating the Patent Thicket: Cross Licenses, Patent Pools, and Standard-Setting" (PDF). In Jaffe, Adam B.; et al. (eds.). Innovation Policy and the Economy. Vol. I. Cambridge: MIT Press. pp. 119–150. ISBN 0-262-60041-2.