Posts Tagged: "Green Technology"

Just because a company has a patent portfolio and interesting technology does not mean that the portfolio, or the company behind the portfolio, will be able to tap into the “perfect storm” we are seeing in certain high-tech industries. “I’m not seeing how the Konarka situation exemplifies the ‘Perfect Storm Effect’ at the upper end of the current patent market,” Laurie says. “On the demand side, the multi-billion dollar portfolio valuations in the mobile device and social media markets are being driven by huge, and ever expanding, consumer demand, and large gross margins neither of which factors would seem to apply to solar.”

The U.S. Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) will host its second Clean Technology Partnership Meeting on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, to bring clean technology stakeholders together to share ideas, experiences and insights and provide a forum for discussion on how the USPTO can improve and expand on its clean technology programs.

I thought I might take the occasion to identify Green-Tech innovations that relate to recycling technologies, energy conversion and conservation of energy that are worthy of celebration on Earth Day 2012. The following innovations all recently received U.S. patents. What do they have in common? As I was searching for them they caught my eye and I found them to be cool, interesting or exciting. I hope you do too. Whether or not any of these innovations ultimately become adopted in any large scale way is irrelevant if you ask me. The more we search for solutions the more we will find. For innovation to march forward we need creative minds applying their skills. A tip of the hat to all innovators operating in this space is well earned!

At this time of the year many attorneys and agents are not paying all that much attention to the rules and requests for comments coming out of the Patent Office. Truthfully, with the number of changes that have taken place under the Kappos run Patent Office and the enormity of the America Invents Act many patent attorneys, including myself, are worn out! Add to that the typical end of the year matters for clients and our own businesses and it is easy to miss announcements in November and December.

As global demand for energy continues to grow and the price of oil and gasoline continue to rise we must pursue solutions for cleaner, renewable energy. The technology that will ultimately support an alternative energy driven economy is not where we want it to be, if we do not aggressively pursue such technologies and build on early stage successes we will never get to the finish line. Complaining about the fact that the finish line is so far away and the technology incapable of providing a solution today is exceptionally myopic. Nothing worth doing is ever easy and without taking critical first steps the final celebratory steps are simply impossible to take.

I have long believed that the next breakthrough, paradigm shifting technology will be battery technology. Unfortunately, even given all the excellent research and development that is ongoing in the U.S., much funded by venture capitalists (over $200 million last year) and the Federal Government through research conducted at Argonne National Laboratories and other federal labs, the energy density for the lithium ion battery is still a factor of 10 away from the energy density of gasoline. Progress is being made and new lithium derivative batteries are being tested and showing some promise, although they are a long way away from the energy density of gasoline, but there is a path forward.

Leading industry experts will provide an overview of the clean technology landscape, addressing the importance of regional accelerators, giving an update on clean tech patents, and highlighting the benefits of the USPTO’s Green Technology Pilot Program.

Little impacts cascading together can have a large impact, but for the time being we need to realize that the technology is not where it needs to be to leverage alternative and renewable energy in an impactful way. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, but it does mean we need to be perfectly honest with ourselves and realize that a silver-bullet green technology is unlikely. In the meantime as we incentivize innovators we need an all-of-the-above series of solutions.

A tip of the hat to Wheelpump Corporation and all other start-up and established companies seeking to be more environmentally friendly and energy conscious. We need more independent inventors pursuing these technologies, we need start-up companies to attract venture capital and we need clean, home-grown American jobs. Incremental innovation is what will bridge the gap between our current energy economy and whatever the sustainable energy economy of the future will be. Let’s just hope that the Supreme Court and the Federal Circuit don’t kill incremental innovation by rendering steps in the right direction obvious because they were inevitable eventually.

Earlier this evening President Barack Obama delivered the 2011 State of the Union Address to a live audience in the House Chambers at the Capitol. Not surprisingly, President Obama mentioned “innovation” repeatedly. The use of the “innovation” rhetoric is to be expected any more from our elected leaders, but it is typically little more than rhetoric. Perhaps that is how this speech will ultimately go down in history, but I must confess near complete shock that President Obama did utter the word “patent” during his speech this evening.

Currently, the average time between the approval of a green technology petition and the first action on an application is just 49 days. In several cases, patent applications in the green technology program have been issued within a year of the filing date. Earlier patenting of these technologies can help inventors to secure funding, create businesses, and bring vital green technologies to market much sooner. In fact, since the pilot program began in December 2009, a total of 790 petitions have been granted to green technology patent applicants, with 94 patents having already been issued.

A packed room of at least 200 individuals, including the newly retired Chief Judge Paul Michel, former USPTO Director Q. Todd Dickinson, former USPTO Director Bruce Lehman and others listened to Kappos give an impassioned speech about how innovation can create jobs, how the Patent Office is unfortunately continuing to hold jobs hostage due to a staggering backlog of pending patent applications and how American economic security depends upon development of a comprehensive national IP strategy. I have heard Kappos talk about the job creating power of innovation and the role the USPTO can and should play, but there was something different about his speech today.

Coming on the heels of the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico the expansion of the green tech initiative at the PTO seems to be in line with the overall direction of the Obama Administration, which today shifted away from a true “all of the above” energy solution and is tending away from domestic oil exploration and drilling in favor of green technologies, including increasing the fuel efficiency of automobiles even further. The USPTO is front and center in a coordinate effort by the federal government to pursue green technologies as part of a unified energy plan. The latest USPTO green initiative will lead to faster patents and a coherent national policy built on the back of American inventors and entrepreneurs.

GE asserts that the Mitsubishi 2.4MW wind turbine is an example of an infringing product. The 2.4 MW wind turbine is a large-size wind turbine with a 2.4 megawatt rated output. According to the Mitsubishi website, the MWT92/2.4 and MWT95/2.4 (versions of the 2.4MW wind turbine) “are strategically targeted at the global market for large-scale wind turbine generators. MHI developed the MWT92/2.4 proprietarily and, since January 2006, has verified its performance and reliability through testing…”

This case comes to light courtesy of the Docket Report daily e-mail newsletter. On Tuesday, January 26, 2010, the United States Federal District Court for the Middle District of Florida, per Magistrate Pizzo, granted summary judgment against Solomon Technologies, Inc. and in favor of Toyota Motor Corporation relating to claims of infringement relative to U.S. Patent No. 5,067,932. The case…