Need for sustainable patents ? ICSAT 2010 Chiemsee, Germany

1. Need for sustainable patents ?ICSAT 2010Chiemsee, Germany Josef Beck patent attorney physicist Wilhelm & Beck Prinzenstrasse 13 80639 München Beck@wilbeck.de

2. Overview • Sustainable technology • Patent • Relevance of patents in the field of sustainable technlogy • Sustainable patents • result

3. Sustainable technology • Motivation • Running-out of natural resources, i.e. oil, clean water, food, clean air, • Technology has a negative influence on climate, water, air, nature as a whole • There is a strong need for sustainable technologies to attenuate or to solve the above-named problems !

4. Economic situation • Increasing competition between industrialised countries and new competitors such as China and India • Mature technologies in industrialised countries, e.g. in automobile industry • Economic recession in many countries • High national debt in many countries

5. New market sustainable technology Forecast of investment in regenerative energies world-wide

6. Possible development of wind capacity in the EU and USA

7. Possible development of photovoltaic capacity

8. There is a huge market for sustainable technology !

9. Most sustainable technologies need development

10. The role of patents • A lot of the sustainable technologies are not technically mature, so there is a lot of development necessary. • Development results in inventions and • inventions can be protected by patents ! • Patents expected to play a major role for sustainable technology.

11. Is there an interest in patents on sustainable technology ?

12. Patent applications world wide for alternative energy-related technologies number

13. Applications in Germany for hybrid car technology

14. Automotive patent applications world-wide 2009 Most applications for alternatively powered vehicles 14 % 13 % 12 % 11 %

15. Patent applications in Germany Number year

16. There is a run for patents on sustainable technology !Are patents used in the field of sustainable technology ?

17. General Electric vs. Mitsubishi • GE in dispute with Mitsubishi over wind turbine patents • GE lost a first law suit in January 2010 • Some politicians wrote to the court to point out the loss of US jobs if GE were to lose the case • GE filed a second patent law suit against Mitsubishi in February 2010, • GE holds 148 US patents relating to wind energy

18. Why a patent? • New developments require investments • A basic rule of our economic system is that • products are allowed to be copied, • if they are not protected by intellectual property rights, e.g. by a patent.

19. Examples of well known copies • Smart • BMW

20. What is a patent ?

22. What is a patent ? • Monopoly right protecting a technical invention for 20 years, which • gives you the right to ban a third party from using the invention ! You can say STOP ! • A patent is used to increase the return of invest by receiving license fee from an infringer or by protecting a product against copying ! • However, a patent does not give you the right to use the invention. • A patent can be used as a currency for exchanging technology with a competitor.

23. How do you obtain a patent ? • Invention has to be • New • Inventive • Technical • You have to file a patent application with a Patent Office. • Cost about 3-5 T€ per country in EU, • US, JP about 8 T€, CN about 7 T€

24. Most important functions of a patent • Weapon to attack a competitor • Shield to defend own products • Currency for exchanging technology • How you use a patent is a question of your patent strategy ! • But if you have no patent you have less possibilities of operating!

25. Is there a sustainable patent ? • Every patent should be sustainable, because a patent should assist the development of more sustainable technologies. • There are some political and society developments which could result in improving the sustainability of patents in the field of sustainable technologies.

26. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) • develope a study • that aims to enhance understanding of the role of patents vis-à-vis access to environmentally sound technologies (sustainable technologies).

27. PROJECT OBJECTIVES • What are the elements of the technologies or their utilization that are protected by patents? • For a particular technology, what is the percentage of patents held by companies or individuals from developed and developing countries? • What do patenting trends imply for the rate and direction of the dissemination of the technologies in the short, medium, and long term? • What percentage of existing patents derives from public sector research? What is the trend in this regard? What would this entail for proposals to develop special access arrangements for publicly-funded clean technologies?

29. Limitation of patent rights ? • In some singular cases, restrictions on patent rights were imposed by goverments • for example drug against AIDS, • The function of patents in the field of sustainable technologies is carefully checked and may be limited if hindering the developement and dissemination of sustainable technologies.

30. World Business Counsel for Sustainable Development • Eco-Patent Commons Group • Members are, e.g.: Bosch, Dupont, IBM, Sony .. • Selected patents relating to sustainable technology protecting the environment are free for anyone. • The idea is to accelerate and to facilitate implementation to protect the environment and to promote further innovation

31. Result • There is a strong need for patents in the field of sustainable technology! • The rules are at the moment basically not different from other technical fields. • The function of patents is however carefully monitored referring to the dissemination of sustainable technologies.

32. Thank you for your interest. • Questions ?