According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the title transfer was recorded on March 17, 2010, five days after Apple began pre-selling its first iPad.

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Using patent analysis studying US semi-conductor firms, they examined the transfer of knowledge between pairs of firms: the firm from which the employee was poached and the poacher.

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Hoechst, which gave the American patent in 1994 to a non-profit organisation, will now transfer the worldwide rights outside America to a one-product company, making it immune from boycotts.

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The patent-pending technology uses a laser beam's energy to precisely transfer the ultra-thin chips.

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The dominant patent holder in agrobacterium transformation, the most widely-used means of plant gene-transfer, is Monsanto, a big agricultural firm.

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Most schools set up a technology transfer office to help bring new discoveries to market, which mainly involves searching patent databases and chasing lots of paperwork.

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