The Conquest Of The Sky Managed By Patents.

While Amazon, DHL and also Google are trying to launch their home delivery-by-air services, the challenge to develop drone-related technologies continues on the intellectual property front. Few days ago, the US Patent and Trademarks Office approved an application (US 9, 045,218) from Boeing for an autonomous drone that can be recharged without landing. In particular, the patent concerns a battery-powered drones equipped with a retractable tether, through which the aircraft can be connected to a variety of charging point. Furthermore, on 9th June 2015 the USPTO granted a patent (US 9,051,043) to Google entitled “Providing emergency medical services using unmanned aerial vehicles”. Embodiments described therein are configured to provide medical support for a number of different situations. For example, such drones may bring water, emergency aid kits or defibrillators for people trapped in inaccessible places. However, drone regulations in the U.S. remain pretty limiting, making -at least so far- the use of drones for high-scale business inconvenient.