A survey of international patents was carried out to define state-of-the-art in deep seabed mining and to analyze the patent data to identify trends in seabed mining technology. The international patent search was restricted to the time period 1960 to 1998. The survey resulted in 352 patents identified from 12 patent systems. The majority (85%) of the patents were issued from the United States, Japan and the former USSR. Research and development activities commenced in 1960, peaked in 1983 with 34 patents issued and today continues at much reduced pace. Since 1984, on average 6 patents have been issued per year.
Trends in deep seabed mining technology
Journal of Offshore Technology ; 11 , 1 ; 37-40
2003
4 Seiten
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch