[Icommons] Eco-Friendly Patents Up for Grabs in New High-Tech “Commons”
Anirudh
anirudhsbh at gmail.com
Sun Feb 3 00:26:54 EST 2008
Source: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5582
Eco-Friendly Patents Up for Grabs in New High-Tech "Commons"Alana Herro –
January 23, 2008 – 5:00am
Some of the world's biggest companies have joined together to create a
public online database for sharing patents for environmentally responsible
products. The new Eco-Patent
Commons<http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MTQ3NQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu>was
created to encourage researchers, entrepreneurs, and companies to
develop more eco-friendly practices and incorporate them into their work,
according to the World Business Council for Sustainable
Development<http://www.wbcsd.org/templates/TemplateWBCSD5/layout.asp?type=p&MenuId=MQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu>,
a coalition of some 200 leading companies, which helped launch the project.
The patent database was inspired by the open-source software movement, in
which programmers freely share computer coding to facilitate knowledge
exchange, explains David Kappos, a lawyer with IBM and one of the project's
founders. "The advantage of using this commons approach is efficiency,
scale, and visibility," Kappos told the *Wall Street
Journal*<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120027151743287307.html?mod=djemEMU>.
Other partnering companies include Sony Corp., Pitney Bowes Inc., and Nokia
Corp.
Forcing companies to give away their intellectual property rights for
eco-friendly technology has long been a point of contention in international
climate change negotiations, including under the Kyoto Protocol. According
to John Coequyt of Greenpeace, the commons is "potentially a way to solve
the problem by voluntary action."
The founding companies of the Eco-Patent Commons are donating more than 30
patents<http://www.wbcsd.org/plugins/GENERICDB/result.asp?DBID=8&type=p&MenuId=MTU2MQ&doOpen=1&ClickMenu=LeftMenu&DBEntityTitle=&DBEntityText=&char70=&cbo68=&cbo69=&char71=>to
jumpstart the initiative. IBM is donating the lion's share, including
a
patent for recyclable packaging material as a replacement for foam peanuts.
Nokia is contributing a patent for methods of recycling old mobile phones
into digital cameras, data monitoring devices, and other electronic items.
And Pitney Bowes has donated a patent for a design that protects electronic
scales from being damaged when they are overloaded, useful for keeping the
devices out of the waste stream longer.
*This story was produced by Eye on
Earth<http://www.worldwatch.org/taxonomy/term/443>,
a joint project of the Worldwatch Institute <http://www.worldwatch.org/> and
the blue moon fund <http://www.bluemoonfund.org/>. View the complete
archive<http://www.worldwatch.org/taxonomy/term/443>of Eye on Earth
stories, or contact Staff Writer Alana Herro at
aherro at worldwatch.org with your questions, comments, and story ideas.*
(c) 2007 Worldwatch Institute | 1776 Massachusetts Ave., NW | Washington, DC
20036 | Phone: (202) 452-1992
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