Green Patent Blog®

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) has launched an initiative to give priority to patent applications directed to technology having environmental benefits.

The initiative was announced this month by David Lammy, Minister for Intellectual Property, and took effect on May 12th.  Instead of the current average of 2-3 years for an application to get through the UKIPO, an application could be granted in just 9 months under this scheme.

The UKIPO press release describes the new procedure this way:

Accelerated search and/or examination of the patent application will be made available to any patent applicant who makes a reasonable assertion that the invention in the patent application is one which has some environmental benefit.  The application will be fully searched and examined by a technically-qualified patent examiner. 

Applicants can choose which aspects of the application process they want to accelerate, including search, examination, combined search and examination, and/or publication. 

From looking at the UKIPO Fast Grant Guide, it appears that the UK process does not require shifting much of the searching and examination burden to the applicant, as is the case with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s expedited examination scheme.

The U.S. Petition to Make Special procedure, which is available in a number of instances, including for inventions relating to environmental benefits and energy development or conservation, requires the applicant to conduct a pre-examination search, submit a copy of the references deemed “most closely related” to the invention and describe how the invention is patentable over those references. 

These requirements can substantially increase the up front legal fees associated with filing a patent application and discourage applicants from taking advantage of the expedited process in the U.S.

Kruse Technology Partnership (”Kruse”) is an Anaheim, California partnership that owns several U.S. patents relating to its higher efficiency and cleaner burning diesel engines.

Last month Kruse filed its First Amended Complaint against DMAX, Ltd. (”DMAX”), an Ohio diesel engine manaufacturer formed as a joint venture between GM and Isuzu. 

The amended complaint (kruse_amended_complaint.pdf) alleges that DMAX’s Duramax engines infringe three related Kruse patents:  U.S. Patent Nos. 5,265,562 (”‘562 patent”), 6,058,904 (”‘904 patent”) and 6,405,704 (”‘704 patent”).

The asserted patents are entitled “Internal combustion engine with limited temperature cycle” and are directed to Kruse’s “Limited Temperature Cycle” technology, which limits peak combustion temperatures in direct injection gas and diesel engines. 

The Limited Temperature Cycle injects fuel in multiple increments both before and after ignition.  According to Kruse’s web site, such injection of partial quantities of fuel reduces the combustion temperature, boosts thermal efficiency and reduces certain chemical emissions.

The asserted patents claim this process and describe an engine incorporating the invention.  The engine (10) comprises a block (12), a cylinder head (14) and a cylinder (16) having a piston (18). 

Fuel is supplied to the engine (10) by a fuel injection system (36).  The engine (10) also includes an air induction system (26) having an air intake valve (28) in the cylinder head (14).

One key feature of the process is the maintainance of a proper fuel/air mix in the engine to reduce the temperature and the work of compression.  According to the ‘904 patent, the fuel injection system (36) precisely regulates this fuel/air mixture for combustion and exhaust emission control.

The complaint requests that the court issue a permanent injunction against DMAX and award Kruse compensatory damages for the alleged infringement.

Nanosys is a Palo Alto nanotechnology company specializing in high performance inorganic nanostructures, including quantum dots.  Quantum dots are nano-scale semiconductors that emit near-monochromatic light when subjected to light or electrical stimulation. 

Among the many applications of quantum dots are diode lasers, LEDs and solar cells, and Nanosys recently announced a new photovoltaics division called QD Soleil to focus on the solar field.

Nanosys is the exclusive licensee of several patents owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology relating to quantum dot technology.  These include U.S. Patent Nos. 6,861,155 (’155 patent), 6,322,901 (’901 patent), 7,125,605 (’605 patent, 6,821,337 (’337 patent) and 7,138,098 (’098 patent).

Last month, Nanosys sued its Manchester, U.K. rival, Nanoco Technologies (Nanoco), and Nanoco’s U.S. distributor, Sigma-Aldrich (Sigma), alleging that their quantum dot technology sold under the brand name Lumidots infringes these patents (nanosys_complaint.pdf).

The asserted patents include two patent families: the ‘155, ‘901 and ’605 patents are entitled ”Highly luminescent color selective nanocrystalline materials” and are directed to nanocrystal particles having a semiconductor core and a semiconductor coating that emit light in a narrow spectral range.  The core consists of cadmium sulfur, cadmium selenium or cadmium tellurium, and the coating is zinc sulfur or zinc selenium.

The ‘337 and ‘098 patents, entitled”Preparation of nanocrystallites,” are directed to nanocrystallite manufacturing methods.  The ‘337 patent describes the method as follows:

The method includes contacting a metal, M, or an M-containing salt, and a reducing agent to form an M-containing precursor, M being Cd, Zn, Mg, Hg, Al, GA, In or Tl.  The M-containing precursor is contacted with an X-donor, X being O, S, Se, Te, N, P, As, or Sb.  The mixture is then heated in the presence of an amine to form the nanocrystallite.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, and Nanosys is requesting compensatory damages and a permanent injunction against Nanoco and Sigma.

In a timely push to demonstrate the critical role intellectual property (IP) is playing and will continue to play in the development of clean technologies, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and business leaders will launch the Innovation, Development & Employment Alliance (IDEA) this Wednesday, May 20, 2009 (idea_launch_press_release.doc).

IDEA’s mission is to educate policymakers and the public about the fundamental role of IP rights in promoting innovation in the clean tech space.  The Alliance asserts that robust IP protection is needed to encourage investment in clean tech research and development, create green jobs and find solutions to the world’s energy and environmental challenges.

IDEA’s immediate priority is to urge Congress and the Obama administration to maintain strong IP protection for innovators as the U.S. engages in international talks related to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

I spoke with Caroline Joiner, the Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), who expressed concern about the “anti-IP push” of the UNFCCC and called the talks “the IP battle of the year.”

What worries Ms. Joiner and other members of the Alliance are calls coming primarily from developing countries to weaken IP rights in energy efficiency and environmental technology.  Even the current U.S. Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, suggested weakening IP protections, advocating a “very collaborative” effort:  “by very collaborative I mean share all intellectual property as much as possible.”  (see the IP-Watch op-ed by David Hirschmann, President & CEO of the GIPC).

Advocates of this approach see a strong patent system as a barrier to technology transfer, especially in developing countries, and call for exceptions to the system such as compulsory licensing.  

However, their premise - that IP rights hinder tech transfer of clean technologies to developing countries and emerging markets - has been refuted recently by a European Commission report that found no evidence of any such IP-related barriers (see my post about the report here). 

The EC report found that there are hardly any clean tech patents in developing countries, and the high cost of implementation in these countries is more likely due to the immaturity of the technologies than to patent rights.  The report actually concluded that strengthening patent regimes in emerging markets could stimulate both local innovation and transfer of technologies from foreign patent holders.

IDEA has invited members of Congress and other policymakers to the launch event, which will be held at the National Press Club in Washington this week.  Ms. Joiner said the format will be a “roundtable discussion” of these issues.  The Alliance members attending the launch event include:

David Hirschmann - President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center

Andy Cefranic - Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems

Carl Horton - Chief Intellectual Property Counsel, General Electric

Bill Keith - President & CEO, Sunrise Solar

Susan Mann - Senior Director of Intellectual Property Policy, Microsoft

There are a couple of recent stats and trends relating to green IP from the other side of the globe to report. 

First, as discussed at greentechmedia and Tech-On!, a survey of global patent applications relating to “electric propulsion vehicles” (defined as electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles) by the Japan Patent Office concludes that 70% of applications in this category are owned by Japanese applicants.

According to the survey, Japanese applicants accounted for 76% of the 9,034 applications filed between the years 1995 and 2000 and 69% of the applications filed from 2001-2006.

From Japan we turn south to Australia, which has seen trademark applications in the energy sector jump 250% in the last five years along with a substantial rise in clean tech patent applications (15% for solar and 50% for “clean coal” technology).

The Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr discussed these trends in an Australian Labor Party Media Statement released on World Intellectual Property Day in late April (see Senator Carr’s press release here).

Thanks to the Gippsland Friends of Future Generations blog for its post on these green IP trends from down under.