Free Patents for the Environment
Free Patents? That’s the idea behind an effort to foster the promulgation of eco-friendly technology and spur innovation in the environmental sustainability arena. The “Eco-Patent Commons” initiative, a project of the World Council for Sustainable Development, goes online today, already boasting thirty-one publicly-available patents from electronics giants like IBM, Sony, Nokia, and Pitney Bowes. The project allows any company to voluntarily donate intellectual property they deem helpful to the environment; thus far the bulk of the patents have come from IBM.
Most of the patents are expected to benefit energy conservation, pollution prevention, and recycling programs. For example, one IBM patent provides a design for a shock absorbing tray that could replace styrofoam peanuts for packaging. The Commons also hopes to encourage collaboration between companies and benefit enterprises that can cut costs with these patents.
The World Business Council for Sustainable Development is an association of about 200 companies and is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
This project arrives just as the U.S. Congress reconvenes. This year, the Senate will take up consideration of the Patent Reform Act of 2007. The bill has created a rift between information technology and biomedical firms who claim that the bill’s provisions could favor one industry at the expense of the other. The bill aims to overhaul the patent system and bring it in line with the patent laws of many other countries.
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