Intellectual property is the throttling of the global innovation engine. Properly applied, throttle can accelerate innovation and support business, government and humanitarian goals. Improper settings can stifle innovation or exacerbate inequality. Therefore, intellectual property policy is a key part of moving towards a global sustainable energy model. Surprisingly, however, little attention is paid to intellectual property policies.
The significant lack of intellectual property publishing work or policy documents related to renewable energy highlights the difficulty of developing it. However, without a consistent policy, creating a global sustainable energy system will only be slower than demand at best. The main obstacle to the development of such policies is the conflict between the interests of businesses, governments and NGOs. However, just because something is difficult doesn't mean it should be ignored.
However, most policy-makers have chosen to do so. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], the United Nations and any of its related organizations have not developed an intellectual property policy on sustainable energy. Individual countries have remained largely silent on this issue, violating their standard national policy on intellectual property. However, the global sustainable energy problem presents a special case in which the patchwork of national policies and transnational treaties cannot be resolved.
US and EU intellectual property policy
As a global leader, the United States and the European Union play an important role in intellectual property policy issues. Unfortunately, neither has failed to lead efforts to develop coherent policies. Instead, everyone relies on their current intellectual property policies.
In the United States, patents are granted for 20 years from the date of application, and the end holder has the right to exclude others from selling patented or patented products. To be patented, the invention must meet three criteria: utility, novelty, and non-obviousness. Critics of US patent policy point out that when US courts granted patents to commercial and software methods, they created a patent jungle and provided a backlog for the US Patent and Trademark Office [USPTO] in years of applications. In addition, many critics believe that obtaining patents in the US is too simple.
However, in 2007, the US Supreme Court issued a landmark intellectual property decision at KSR International Inc. to Teleflex, which increased the apparent standard by simply arbitrating the elements of the public domain, and if it produced, it was predictable. result. This ruling has a major impact on renewable energy intellectual property, as most of the basic elements of sustainable energy science have long since departed from patents. In many cases, improvements in sustainable energy infrastructure are gradual and based on this mature underlying science. Or they are a combination of old technology or previously re-used technology. The result is questions about whether the progress in the field is novel enough and whether they have built public domain science or still patented work.
In the EU, the situation of intellectual property policy is more complicated, because as a multinational institution, the EU is made up of countries with their own intellectual property history and policies. The EU has been working hard to standardize its industrial property, and its policies are designed to support innovation while still protecting individual rights. However, the EU has hardly tried to lead the reform of global intellectual property policy.
There are at least three reasons why any government can guide the development of a coherent global policy on sustainable energy intellectual property:
- There is no precedent for such a policy. Intellectual property policies are developed at the national level or at the one-to-one treaty level, called coordination.
- Countries and companies have a vested interest in detaining information about the economic costs and benefits of patents. The company wants to maintain confidentiality for obvious financial and business reasons. Governments can fund research and development for a variety of social, economic, and military reasons, and these reasons are often not revealed.
- Most countries with strong intellectual property policies treat patents as individual rights and are protected by the rule of law. Even if many patents are donated to individuals working at a university or company, these assignees can usually benefit from granted patents rather than individual inventors. In addition, the government tends to stand on the side of the "home team" and formulate policies that are conducive to companies staying in the country.
In addition to various national IP policies, other non-government drivers have played a role in some aspects of the sustainable energy market due to the lack of overall policy guidance by government organizations. Curiously, in other respects, they are a direct result of the existence of existing national patent policies.
To achieve business goals, the company has been using more of two different intellectual property concepts: patent pools and open source work.
As early as the 19th century, the patent pool was used to reduce risk and save time and money. It is a consortium of companies that combine to allow joint, non-exclusive licensing of intellectual property. Patent pools make sense in sustainable energy development because a large number of organizations are trying to develop similar technologies or products that must work seamlessly within existing power infrastructure. This is especially important because the migration to sustainable energy will involve a dispersed generation. With patent pools, companies can develop innovative designs without worrying about integrating them anywhere in the grid.
An almost opposite approach called open source is often associated with computer software, especially the Linux operating system. Our idea is to freely license or publish science or technology to the public domain so that anyone with these skills can modify or add core technologies. Open source attempts to take advantage of the emerging understanding that "most of the smartest people work elsewhere", a recognition that is critical to the inference movement called "open innovation," in which companies try to promote collaboration with outside organizations. contact.
The open source model works because many new design ideas are collections of several previous designs. Therefore, they need expertise from a variety of engineering disciplines, but there is no direct monetary reward to participate in the project. As SETI @home and Grid.org have proven, this is not necessarily an obstacle when the project is working to achieve greater benefits, as the development of renewable energy is clearly the same.
Coherent intellectual property policy component
Pointing out the weaknesses of the system is easy; developing solutions is where you actually work. A coherent IP policy for renewable energy is no exception and requires several key components:
- Standardization can be used to define the patent. Countries usually do this on a case-by-case basis. A broader multinational agreement is clearly preferable.
- Conduct patent examinations as quickly as possible. In the United States, the "Special Petition" can speed up the prosecution of "applications that help develop or protect energy resources".
- Mitigation of technology licensing and acquisition methods. Similarly, easier cross-border licensing will contribute to the development of global energy infrastructure.
- Promote collaboration between organizations. For example, the relaxation of the ability to form an international joint venture will reduce barriers to participation by limited-education organizations such as university development offices and start-ups.
- Strengthen intellectual property rights in developing countries. Although this idea has its limitations, patent protection should not inhibit innovation.
Developing a coherent global IP policy is critical to a successful transition to sustainable energy. Sadly, there is currently little leadership in this area. This can be overcome with more attention to the topic, thoughtful policy development and joint efforts to implement it.
Orignal From: How Smart Intellectual Property Policy Creates a Global Sustainable Energy Infrastructure
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