#Recycling / Circular Economy

2023-03-02

Carbios doubles its number of granted patents in two years for its proprietary enzymatic technologies

Carbios (and its subsidiary Carbiolice) currently holds 336 titles worldwide divided into 53 patent families. In 2022, several titles protecting the proprietary PET-degrading enzymes were granted in countries of interest such as the United States and also in Asian countries including Indonesia, South Korea, China, Japan and India. Carbios has also obtained grants within its patent families protecting the biodegradable plastics production process, notably the masterbatch containing the enzyme or its production process.

At end 2022, Carbios has 336 titles worldwide divided into 53 patent families for its innovation in enzymatic recycling of PET plastics and fibers, and its PLA biodegradation technology

Carbios’ team of Intellectual Property experts is dedicated to protecting its innovations

Clermont-Ferrand, France, 1 March 2023 (6.45am CET). Carbios has doubled its number of issued patents since the last review published at the end of 2020[1].

“Over the past two years, we have mainly focused on strengthening the protection of our PET biorecycling process and its proprietary enzymes,” commented Lise LUCCHESI, Director of Intellectual Property at Carbios. “For the coming years, we will continue to consolidate the protection of this process, and that of our PLA biodegradation process, by filing new patent applications. We will also actively follow up on our filed patent applications in order to obtain granted patents.”

“Since the beginning of Carbios, the R&D and Intellectual Property departments have worked hand in hand to ensure maximum protection of our enzymes and processes,” commented Alain Marty, Chief Scientific Officer at Carbios. “These continued efforts to obtain extensive international protection are crucial to safeguard our innovations and ensure the industrial deployment of our technologies.”

Worldwide protection

Carbios is expanding its intellectual property portfolio in regions and countries where there is strong demand for its disruptive technologies (see Fig. 1), notably :

in Europe: 40 European titles, which could be granted in the 39 member states of the European Patent Organization

in North America: 41 titles in the United States and 23 in Canada

in Asia: 152 titles, including 37 in China, 27 in Japan and 24 in India

Carbios also has 14 patent applications that may be extended to other countries or regions of the world in the coming years.

Fig 1. Carbios patent titles by geographic region © 2023 Carbios

“We are convinced that biological recycling is the most efficient and circular solution to degrade plastics,” stated Emmanuel LADENT, CEO of Carbios. “The protection of our enzymes and processes is at the heart of our work, and we have a dedicated Intellectual Property team within Carbios. From 2023, we will also focus our efforts on protecting innovation related to enzymatic degradation of other polymers.”

A dedicated Intellectual Property team

The Intellectual Property team at Carbios includes a Director (who is also a member of the Executive Committee) and two patent engineers specialized in the fields of biotechnology and polymer chemistry, one of whom is a representative before the European Patent Office. The team is supported by two external Intellectual Property consulting firms (Becker & Associés and Franck Tetaz Intellectual Property). Finally, an Intellectual Property Committee reports regularly to Carbios’ Board of Directors.

Fig 2. The Carbios Intellectual Property team in front of granted patents (l. to r. : Georges ZAKHIA, Lise LUCCHESI (Director) and Jade FESANCIEUX) © 2023 Carbios

[1] Cf. press release dated 14 January 2021

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