O'Malley, Maryland Lawmakers Introduce Initiative to Spur Innovation in Maryland

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Brian Wm. Higgins

          Patent Office data show that the number of individuals in Maryland receiving at least one patent in 2010 that was not assigned to a company was at an eight year high. Overall innovation in Maryland, however, declined in 2011 compared to 2010, when measured by the number of U.S. patents and patent applications issued to Maryland inventors. On a per capita basis, the numbers look even worse, as patents issued per Maryland resident declined about 3% from 2010 levels.  Moreover, Maryland ranks a lowly 37th when it comes to commercializing research and development, despite being at the top in terms of research and development spending per capita.

          Aiming to reverse those numbers and spur innovation among Maryland researchers, and also facilitate commercialization of inventions made by the state's research universities, Gov. Martin O'Malley and nine Maryland lawmakers recently introduced legislation to create a Maryland Innovation Initiative. Introduced January 20, 2012, as Senate Bill 239, the measure would, among other things, provide funding to help participants in the Initiative assess intellectual property issues.

          A hearing on the new bill is scheduled for February 7, 2012, in Annapolis.

         The Initiative would promote the commercialization of research conducted by the state's research universities, encourage those universities to partner with each other and with federal research labs in Maryland on commercialization and other activities, and facilitate the transfer of technologies from universities to commercial industries in Maryland.  Funding to run the Initiative would come from appropriations from the State's budget, participating universities, grants and funds from federal labs, and private grants, and could be used to support pre-commercial research on intellectual property to increase the likelihood of commercializing the intellectual property.  Such research would likely include patent freedom to operate clearances.
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Candidates See Patents as Tool for Addressing Climate Change

Posted on September 13, 2007 by Brian Wm. Higgins

     With so much talk about climate change, it's good to see that Congress, including a few notable Presidential candidates, is pursuing meaningful technology-based legislation that tackles at least some of the complex issues associated with global warming. In January of this year, Senator Joe Lieberman introduced S.280, the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, which was quickly co-sponsored by 11 Senators, including Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John McCain.  The bill was referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works, which held a hearing in July.

     Of particular interest is Section 318 of the Act, entitled "Patent Study," which calls for the Director of the Patent and Trademark Office, in consultation with representatives of interested parties in the private sector, to conduct a study to determine the extent to which changes to the United States patent system are necessary to increase the flow of climate change-related technologies. The Study is suppose to address:

(1) the balance between the protection of the inventor and the disclosure of information;

(2) the role of patents in innovation within the covered sectors;

(3) the extent to which patents facilitate increased investments in climate change research and development;

(4) the international deployment of United States developed climate change related technologies on the United States patent system;

(5) ways to leverage databases as innovation tools;

(6) best practices for collaborative standard setting; and

(7) any other issues the Director deems appropriate.

     It's not clear what is meant by "increas[ing] the flow of climate change-related technologies," but the language suggests that one goal of the Study is to find ways to make obtaining patents less of a burden and faster to get, which would, presumably, encourage innovation (or at least not stymie innovation).  To get a sense of the number of climate change-related patents already issued, I did a quick search of the PTO on-line database for patents issued with the term "global warming" and came up with the following trend:

 

 

     As shown in this graph, there has been a rapid increase in the number of patents mentioning "global warming" (the first instance was in 1988), but also a decline in the last few years. In fact, based on data through August 31, 2007, the number of patents issued with the term "global warming" in 2007 could drop well below 200 (note: there is about a 3-year lag time between filing a patent application and issuance of a patent, so today's numbers reflect innovation activity in approximately the 2003-2004 time period). Perhaps the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007, if enacted, will spur innovation and reverse the downward trend shown above. 

Comments:

  • The Patent Study would not be complete without an analysis of the timeless debate concerning whether governments should be granting patents for technologies that improve human health and the environment, because the premium price attached to patented technologies could, some argue, actually prevent widespread application of the technology, especially in certain developing countries

  • Visit Maryland's Commission on Climate Change web site, which includes several links related to technology issues and Gov. O'Malley's initiatives

  • Google recently announced that it will be investing $10 million dollars in companies and projects that are accelerating the commercialization of alternative transportation solutions which reduce vehicle fossil fuel use and climate emissions (focusing on technologies related to plug-in hybrids, fully electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid capabilities, batteries and other storage technologies, and the application of renewable electricity and fuels to green vehicles)

  • Related federal legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives, H.R.620, January 22, 2007, by Rep. John Olver, and referred to three committees: House Energy and Commerce, House Science and Technology, and House Natural Resources

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