Filed under: News
WIPO Magazine has published the article Climate Change: Hot Property – IP Strategies in the Solar Tech Sector. The article discusses how patents helped Spanish solar company ISOFOTON commercialise and bring its technology to the market.
Key points from the article include:
- Intellectual property (IP) is central to Isofoton’s business and R&D strategies
- Companies should as far as possible generate their own IP so as to be independent from the competition in generating new technology and ahead of competition in the applications market
- Licencing in technology can be very useful
- Ensure 100% access, or preferably ownership, from all IP generated from joint ventures
- Try to negotiate using your IP, especially patents, rather than entering a full blown dispute
An installation of Isofoton solar panels
The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) has made noises suggesting the promotion of Climate Change Mitigation Technologies by the patent systems is becoming a primary goal. WIPO will discuss the associated challenges and issues at its Conference on Intellectual Property and Global Challenges on 13-14 July. The conference will serve as a global forum for discussion of some of the major challenges in relation to IP the world faces today. I’d be keen to hear from you if you are planning to attend this conference.
Filed under: Podcast & Media
Dr Justin Blows presented a webcast on the Toyota Prius and its approximately 2000 patents on the rise. Dr Justin Blows, Patent Attorney at Griffith Hack, Clean and Sustainable Technologies Group – Boardroom Radio webcast
Filed under: Feature | Tags: biochar, biomass, clean and sustainable, cleantech, intellectual property, technology
The first Asia-Pacific Biochar Conference will take place on the Gold Coast from 17–19 May 2009.
Heating biomass to generate synthetic gases has proven to be a great way to generate electricity without adding net greenhouse gas emissions. But recently, scientists have realised that the bi-product, biochar, when added to soil both boasts soil fertility and sequesters carbon over the long term.
Professor Tim Flannery has advocated the great potential of biochar’s multiple benefits. ‘The biochar approach provides a unique powerful solution, for it allows us to address food security, the fuel crisis and the climate problem, and all in an immensely practical manner.’
‘With the appropriate political and technical recognition, promotion and adoption, it will change our world forever, and very much for the better,’ he wrote.
Read more here.
Filed under: News | Tags: clean and sustainable, geothermal, intellectual property, renewable energy, technology
Griffith Hack client Geodynamics has been named a winner by IEEE Spectrum magazine for the best technologies in 2009. Geodynamics is the world leader in electrical power generation using engineered geothermal systems.
Congratulations!
Here is an earlier post on geothermal power.
Filed under: News | Tags: air conditioning, intellectual property, solar, technology
NEP SOLAR, in partnership with Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and Bovis Lend Lease Construction, is set to conduct solar thermal cooling installations for the major redevelopment and expansion project of one of the largest shopping centers in Newcastlle Australia, The Charlestown Square.
NEP SOLAR will use its parabolic trough collectors called PolyTrough 1200, a small roof-mountable parabolic trough collector developed for high performance up to 200°C to air condition the shopping center using absorption chillers for the solar cooling project.
Filed under: News | Tags: clean and sustainable, climate change, innovation, patent, technology
Clean and sustainable technologies (“cleantech”) have grown much faster than other technologies since the signing of the Kyoto protocol in 1997 – but not in Australia. That’s the conclusion from a new report based on patent data, titled Invention and transfer of climate change mitigation technologies on a global scale: A study drawing on patent data.
Global patent filings in cleantech grew 9% per year between 1998 and the end of the analyzed period 2003. However, this growth was not evident in Australia and the USA – a situation attributed to the governments of these countries historically having little regard for climate change. The USA still has not ratified the Kyoto protocol and Australia ratified it only last year. The Australian Government has since embraced climate change mitigation and has pro-climate policies including renewable energy targets, an emissions trading scheme and is funding The Australian Solar Institute and The International Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.
Based on the historical patent data and the change in political climate, Australia is positioned for a dramatic increase in cleantech patent filings. In the analyzed period, Australia accounted for less cleantech inventions than Brazil with 1.1% of world inventions, while Japan accounted for a massive 40.8%. Indeed, if Australia does not increase its patent filings it will continue to loose out on opportunities to export clean and sustainable technologies during a time when cleantech imports must increase. Hopefully, Australia’s cleantech industry & researchers will embrace a patenting culture to ensure Australia’s international competitiveness and accelerate the transfer of technologies to the developing world.
Interestingly, the Kyoto Protocol has not accelerated technology transfer, especially from developed to developing nations. Most, 75%, of the transfer of patented technology is from one developed nation to another.
Filed under: Articles | Tags: clean and sustainable technolgies, hybrid vehicle, intellectual property, patent, technology
The technology in the Toyota Prius is protected by 2,000 patent applications, a third of which are for the new third generation Prius(Have a look at this more recent blog entry for more details on hybrid vehicle patents) . The Prius, a petrol-electric hybrid vehicle, is the most fuel efficient car of any size on, for example, US roads. It has a reported fuel efficiency of 3.9L per 100km. Being an early mover in hybrid technology, Toyota has secured a lot of protected IP to significant commercial advantage
Leading technologies, like the Prius, warrant comprehensive patent protection
Toyota’s strategy has made it far too risky to copy the Prius without Toyota’s blessing. Having this many patents makes it very difficult for another manufacturer to copy the Prius and escape liability. To illustrate this point, we can consider an example product protected by a mere 20 patent applications in a particular country. For a 50% chance of a competitor being found not the infringe all 20 patents, the competitor has to be confident that it has more than a 96% chance of a court finding no infringement in each of the 20 patents – a very tall order! The Prius has many more patent applications than 20, and thus it is exponentially harder to fight Toyota’s patents. And this assumes that the other manufacturer can even cover the legal costs to contest multiple patents in court – patent cases costing more than a million dollars are not infrequent.
Given the poor odds, Toyota’s competitors are far more likely to seek licenses for Toyota’s patents rather than risk going to court, placing Toyota at a very significant commercial advantage. Toyota could, for example, simply deny the technology to the competitors stopping them in their tracks. Alternatively, Toyota could license the technology for money or some other consideration. Another possibility is that Toyota cross licenses the technology, giving the competitor access to the technology in return for access to a valuable and patented technology of the competitor. Cross licensing has been a very successful strategy in the computer hardware industry, for example, which greatly accelerated the diffusion of personal computer technologies through the industry. Patents are known to provide legal clarity and certainty for technology transfer, such as cross licensing deals, promoting technology diffusion.
The Prius is a complicated machine comprising thousands of components, and many technologies are required to put it together. This probably explains the large number of patent applications, at least in part. Complicated technologies, like the Prius, are unlikely to be covered by a single ‘killer patent’. Traditionally, this situation is good for industry because no single player is likely to dominate; technology transfer deals are common. It will be interesting, however, to see what happens in this extreme case where Toyota has accumulated such a massive treasure chest of patents early on in the development of the technology.
Clearly the hybrid vehicle patent landscape is filling fast. Toyota’s competitors (most notably Honda, who produce the Insight) are going to have to move quickly if they want to prevent being locked out of the market. If I was Honda’s patent attorney I would be pushing hard for, amongst other things:
- regular patent watches to identify infringement risks;
- an aggressive patent filing strategy to build up a war chest to counter Toyota’s patent portfolio; and
- patent landscaping to identify strategic technology areas that Toyota has not covered, and target these areas for aggressive patent filings to gain strategic advantage.
Filed under: News
The Australian Government has funded and opened the new Australian Solar Institute, which will involve The Australian National University, University of NSW and the CSIRO. The institute has a funding of $100M over 4 years. The funding is intended to support research that shows strong potential for commercial uptake and is expected to include small-scale proof-of-concept projects. An aim of the Institute is to attract the private sector to co-invest and secure rights to develop and commercialise technologies. Clearly the institute has a strong commercial foc
Will Australia's future be solar powered?
Through our prior association with numerous solar technology companies, we have formed the view that protected intellectual property (IP), particularly patents, will play a critical role in moving the Institute’s technology from research and development, through commercial demonstration and to the market. Without strong IP protection, potential industrial partners will have reasons to be wary of investing in or assisting in moving the technology through the technology innovation chain. Without strong IP protection, their investment may be eroded by others riding on their coat tails.
On the other hand, strong IP protection encrouges commercial partners into joint ventures, and greatly multiplies opportunities to licence the technology out, increasing its diffusion through the market.
We note the the Institute is to develop an IP management plan. The Institute would greatly benefit from consulting widely in this regard, and hopefully will give IP serious consideration & a strong profile both internally and externally.
Filed under: News
As reported here, the New South Wales Government has begun searching across the state to try and find sites suitable for carbon storage.
Filed under: News
The carbon market was worth $118 billion last year, up 84% year-on-year, according to a report by analysis firm New Carbon Finance (NCF). This demonstrates the importance of carbon credits / pollution permits to applicants who’s inventions may be used in the generation of carbon credits.
Some types of carbon credits, such as CERs issued under the Clean Development Mechanism issued for introducing sustainable technologies to developing countries, may be patentable, and in our opinion patent applicants should consider including claims to carbon credits in their applications, as appropriate to capture this potentially very significant revenue source.
JLB
Filed under: Events & Seminars
The Brisbane City Council, in partnership with Australian Innovation, is proud to present the CitySmart Innovation Festival, coming in May 2009. Hosted in Brisbane, the 2009 Festival will build on the success of 2008’s inaugural festival.
This new Festival will create a forum for innovators from the business and R&D communities to combine their respective strengths in partnerships to develop innovative, sustainable solutions to the challenges of energy, water and waste management. Read more about holding an event as part of the festival (PDF 80kb).
Filed under: News
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about “peak oil”, the point at which oil production has peaked and starts to decline, and some think this will happen any time now. An interesting movie on peak oil can be found here.
But recently some have raised the prospect of “peak coal” in the next 20 years or so, arguing the coal reserves have been grossly over exaggerated.
Hopefully, electricity generated from renewable resources will be able to ensure energy security in a carbon constrained economy.
Filed under: News
Governments in Europe, and in particular Germany and Spain, have passed legislation to promote solar power. Consequently, the photovoltaic (PV) markets in Germany and Spain are 49% of the 13% of the global market respectively. In 2007, the German PV industry was worth €5.7 billion. Measures include:
- Feed in tariffs
- Compulsory minimum purchase of green power by electricity suppliers
- Compulsory domestic solar hot water for new or renovated homes
- Mandatory installation of photovoltaic panels at shopping centres, industrial buildings, government buildings, hotels, and hospitals.
These measures seem to be paying off because the cost of solar electricity is expected to cost the same as electricity generated by traditional means (“Grid parity”) between 2010 and 2020, depending on the amount of sunlight any particular country receives. Read more here.
Recently, however, it was reported that in 2008 Spain installed a massive 3GW+ of PV, more than that of Germany in the same period. Much of the PV cells were manufactured in China.
From a patenting perspective, it is important that patent applications covering new photovoltaic related inventions are filled in at least these two big markets to protect sales, as well as China where their manufacture is greatest. Filing in China may allow a patentee to stop the manufacture of infringing articles that are then imported into other markets, stopping infringement at its source, thus helping to protect other markets that may import from China.
JLB
