Candidates See Patents as Tool for Addressing Climate Change
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
