Patent landscape analysis for materials based on fungal mycelium: a guidance report on how to interpret the current patent situation.

Background: Recent advancements in the collaboration between two scientific disciplines-fungal biotechnology and materials sciences-underscore the potential of fungal mycelium as renewable resource for sustainable biomaterials that can be harnessed in different industries. As fungal mycelium can be biotechnologically obtained from different filamentous fungi and is as a material very versatile, respective research and commercial application should be thriving. However, some granted patents in the field of fungal mycelium-based materials have caused uncertainty in the community as to which subject matter is patent-protected and for how long the protection is expected to last.