Ged Owens

Coordinator, Public Policy Issues

Int. Organisations, Trilateral and IP5 | Dir. 5.2.4

28 May 2013

The contribution of (eco-) patents and patent information to the dissemination of sustainable technologies

Content

• The Global Patent System and Climate Change Mitigation Technologies

• EPO's Patent Information services – "Espacenet" (www.espacenent.com)– EPO's specially developed Y02 classification scheme for

climate change mitigation technology

• Key results of studies on patenting of clean energy technology

• Patents and Standards

Objectives of the global patent system

To support innovation by :

• enabling technology developers to protect their investments;

• promote the dissemination of technical information by legally

obliging inventors to publicise their inventions;

• allowing research and development activities to build upon existing

inventions;

• establishing a framework for technology transfer, both locally and

globally through licensing.

38 member states Extension agreements for 2 states 4000 patent examiners

40 years of EPO - originally only 7 member states

EPO - largest PCT search authority (40%) for up to 146 contracting states in PCT system

Quality patents - only granting temporary exclusive rights via patents for genuine technical inventions

Approx. half of all patent applications at EPO are refused or withdrawn

The scope of protection of those granted mostly reduced during examination process

European Patent Organisation- Quality patents for Europe — and beyond ?

Patents and Climate Change Mitigation Technologies

• Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMTs):

– Human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases (UN definition).

• Enormous political and social interest for these technologies

– from international agencies, NGOs, private enterprises...

• Enormous investments.

– from private sector, venture capitalists, governments.

• CCMTs not the same as "clean technologies":

– Focuses on greenhouse gases.

– Not necessarily "clean" in other aspects (for example nuclear energy).

UNEP - EPO - ICTSD: Patents and CCMTs

Patent rights subject of much discussion in climate change debate • Rio conference 1992; Rio "plus 20" conference in 2012

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC) – international environmental law, governance and policy. – supports governments for environmental challenges

European Patent Office (EPO) – one process for patent protection in up to 40 European countries. – "patent information" - publication of patent documentation

International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD)• advances trade policy that supports sustainable development • a leading broker of knowledge and information for above

Patents and Climate Change Mitigation Technologies (CCMT)

Global patent system • Legal protection for inventions in exchange for disclosure

EPO Patent Information system• 88 mio. patent documents available worldwide

via the internet, free of charge • EPO's Y02 classification "tagging" of climate change relevant technologies

CCMT Patent applications 1980 - 2011• 1,5 mio. patent applications relating to CC Mitigation Technology

Searching for patent documents: classification

Patent Information system• EPO database "Espacenet" • 88.000.000 patent documents• free of charge on internet

Search on keywords and classification• International Patent Classification (IPC)

– @ 70.000 entries• Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)

– EPO / USPTO – @ 240.000 entries

• Y02 classification scheme: – dedicated to Climate Change

Mitigation Technologies

How it works

•"Y02" tagging scheme is complementary to the existing classifications.

•Includes around 1000 classification entries and nearly 1 500 000 documents.

•It provides easy access to the general public on patenting in climate change mitigation technologies

Y02C: Greenhouse gases – capture or storage/sequestration or disposal

Y02E: Greenhouse gases – emissions reduction technologies related to energy generation, transmission or distribution

Y02B: Buildings - Climate change mitigation technologies in buildings, including the residential sector

Y02T: Transport - Climate change mitigation technologies in the transportation of goods and persons

Y04S: Smart Grids technologies - Remote network operation, smart metering, electric and hybrid vehicles interoperability, trading and marketing

Example CO2 capture and storage (classical)

cumbersome, difficult

Example: CO2 capture and storage Y02C Tag gives overview of all relevant technologies

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Y02C10

Patent landscaping studies

• Carried out in conjunction with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Centre for Sustainable Trade and Development (ICTSD)

• Rio conference 1992 and Rio +20 (2012) – "Patent rights barrier to technology transfer of CCMT to developing

countries..."

• Providing evidence on which to form policy – using Y02 classification scheme, and PATSTAT - EPO's patent statistics tool

• Key results (Global landscape 2010; Africa 2013): – CCMT developed primarily by USA, Germany, France, UK, Japan, Korea (PV

solar) – Continually increasing activity throughout period – Sharp increase in activity after Kyoto protocol - policy works ! – Less than 1% of CCMT patent applications filed in Africa

• Available on EPO website : – www.epo.org/clean-energy

Results of survey on licensing of CCMT

Important factors for licensing / technology transfer stated as: • Access to real know-how from source companies (often "Trade

secrets")• Suitably skilled staff • Scientific infrastructure • Favourable market conditions • Finance

• Patent rights as framework for technology transfer – only one amongst many factors

• Patent right holders are generally willing to license, and mostly

would give preferential terms to enterprises in developing

countries

Y04S: Smart Grids - Patents and standards

• analysis of standards: IEEE-SA 2030 and IEC

•external experts: cooperation with IEEE-SA P2030 WG

•90 codes, divided over...

Worldwide trends in Smart Grid patenting

Yearly filings (relative to the year 2000)

0%

100%

200%

300%

400%

500%

600%

1998 2002 2006 2010

Smart grid patents

total patents

Approximately 6500 patent families related to Smart Grids

Patents and standards

Standards:• Mostly set by industry• Perceived by public to be for the

public good.• In a technically interlinked world,

their nature is potentially global.• Accessibility and ownership issues

increasingly debated

Patents :• Temporary exclusive rights • Can be used to exclude others from

use of the technology, or license• Embedded in standards, they offer

their owners a 'double competitive advantage'.

• Territorial nature

Exclusively owned technologies embodied in standards - rules of inclusion and use must be clear:

Solution:

Licensing on FRAND terms - Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory - reasonable terms, and to all

How to optimise the interaction of patents and standards !

• Important if latest technology is to be included in standards !

– Latest and best technology increasingly patented

• Patent applications must be filed before inventions are disclosed in standards development process

• EPO includes standards-related documentation in "prior art" searches

– prevents granting of patents for already disclosed inventions

• Patent applicants must declare Standards Essential Patents (SEPs) - and SDOs should list these on public databases

• Patent rights licensed to all parties on FRAND terms

– Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory

EPO measures:

• Increased awareness (at highest level)

• Technology watch in this particular field (resource planning)

• Ensure :

1. Documentation (1 million standards related documents:

used as prior art )

2. Legal clarity - when Standards are valid prior art

3. Examination measures:

◦ additional training

◦ early warning systems for “suspicious cases”

◦ systematic links with technical committees of SDOs etc.

Patents and standards work !

• Telecommunications and smart phones – enormously successful industry ! – billions of Euros – 10.000+ Standard Essential Patents – some court cases - but not unusual considering market value

• Key element - licensing Standard Essential Patents on FRAND terms – Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory

• ETSI - European Telecommunications Standards Institute – EPO's leading partner since 2006 – Memorandum of Understanding since 2009– Also ITU, IEEE-SA, IEC and smaller standards organisations – Cooperation starting with CEN-CENELEC

• Increasingly important in wider areas - Smart Grids, smart cities, smart transport, smart buildings ....

– Many areas important for sustainable development !

Further Information

• The UNEP/EPO/ICTSD studies available at:

– http://www.epo.org/clean-energy

• E-Learning module on Y02 (Climate Change):

– http://www.epo.org/topics/issues/clean-energy/classification.html

• Use Y02 in esp@cenet: www.espacenet.com

• PATSTAT - Patent Statistics and landscaping tool

– http://www.epo.org/searching/subscription/raw/product-14-24.html

Conclusions

• Global patent system supports innovation and dissemination of technology

• For licensing / technology transfer, patent rights one of many factors

• EPO's Patent Information services make technical information available worldwide, free-of charge from 88 million patent documents

• 1,5 million related to Climate Change Mitigation Technology

• Patents and Standards can provide synergy – Cooperation between IPOs and SDOs ongoing – increasingly important for sustainable technologies

• Emails: – Ged Owens: gowens@epo.org– Victor Veefkind: vveefkind@epo.org

THE END

Supplementary slides - for information only

Example: Solar Updraft Tower (Solar Chimney)

Example: Solar Updraft Tower

Problems:

• Different facets of the same technology• Too much Noise in classes• Possible conflict with solar tower concentrators..

EPO Patent Information Services

Espacenet, 88 million patent documents, free-of-charge:

www.espacenet.com

Combine with Y02 Classification Scheme for CCMT

Example (country level) using EPO's Espacenet :We want to figure out which "Clean energy" applications are filed in Egypt

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - I

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - II

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - III

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - IV

20 results in 2012

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - V

"Clean energy" applications filed in Egypt - VIExample (country level): Y02E

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