Correspondence: Ramasamy Mannan, McDermott, Will & Emery 227, West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606-5096, USA

¹is an associate at McDermott Will & Emery at the Chicago office. He received his PhD in Biochemistry from Madurai Kamaraj University, India and JD from Quinnipiac University, USA. He conducted extensive research in a number of areas in biotechnology both at Washington University in St Louis and at Pfizer Inc. before joining McDermott. At Pfizer, he managed the company's intellectual property strategy including life cycle management for a number of biological discovery and development projects.

Received 7 January 2009; Revised 7 January 2009; Published online 17 March 2009.

Abstract

The oil embargo of the 1970s forced a realisation that our fossil fuel resources are finite and fast dwindling. Three decades later, this realisation is once again hitting us hard. The good news is that this time around there is a high degree of scientific confidence that a commercially viable, renewable transportation energy resource, competitive with fossil fuel in terms of cost, may be realised within the next 10 to 20 years. Much of this is the result of the recent scientific breakthroughs in genomics and bioengineering. In recent years, a significant number of start-up biofuel companies have emerged and are offering novel biofuel technologies that promise to move these emerging technologies past the research and development stage and into commercialisation. These companies are well advised to develop a viable intellectual property (IP) strategy and a strong patent portfolio to attract investment. This paper is intended to introduce the reader to the emerging biofuel IP landscape and to identify patenting opportunity.