Companies Not Rushing To The Patent Office For Accelerated Review Of Green Patents

from the perhaps-they're-not-in-such-a-rush? dept

Wed, Sep 1st 2010 4:05am — Mike Masnick

We were a bit worried late last year when the USPTO announced plans to speed up the review process for so-called "green tech patents." Speeding up the review process of a system notorious for granting bad, innovation-hindering patents doesn't seem wise for an emerging market. The USPTO said it would cap the trial period to just 3,000 patents to keep it from getting overwhelmed. However, it turns out that the USPTO needn't have worried. They haven't even gotten halfway to the cap yet. To date, only 1,477 requests have been made for the accelerated review program. Apparently this has lots of lawyers scratching their heads, wondering if the program is too expensive or what. Of course, there is another possibility as well: the really innovative folks working on greentech breakthroughs are focused on actually innovating, rather than worrying about the patent office. But, perhaps that's just wishful thinking...

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Filed Under: accelerated review, green tech, greentech, patents
Companies: uspto

12 Comments

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John Doe, 1 Sep 2010 @ 4:39am

Unfortunately for the innovators
The innovators in this space who aren't patenting their works are probably going to get sued soon enough by patent trolls if they don't stockpile now.

When I first came to this blog, I thought you were full of it. But after reading here long enough and seeing how patents and copyrights are stifling innovation and creativity, I am a convert. Personally I think copyright and patents should be pared down to the bare minimum and then trimmed some more. But I don't believe for a minute that will happen.

We, the US, don't manufacture much anymore so we are left with IP as our main output. So the government is going to beat on every other country in the world to honor that IP in the hopes we can stay on top in that realm. We will never learn how to make money from IP unless we can keep it artificially locked up.
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abc gum, 1 Sep 2010 @ 4:46am

Has anyone yet laid a trademark claim upon the word green?
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Altaree, 1 Sep 2010 @ 6:54am

If you don't rush it no one knows they are infringing.
Aren't patent applications secret (ish) until they are granted? If your patent takes a long time to be granted, there is more opportunity for others to also invent the same thing. Then you get to sue those guys! Why would you want to rush the application?
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Corncob, 1 Sep 2010 @ 6:59am

Extension
I forget what the term is for this, but couldn't a lot of "green" patent applicants be waiting to modify/alter their applications to cover any new technology that does come out?
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xs (profile), 1 Sep 2010 @ 8:28am

Not hard to understand at all
Patent application put through under this "green" banner would cover just the narrow field of "green" technology, where as any patent applicant wanting to take advantage of the current system, if just for defensive purpose, would try to make a claim covering as wide a field as possible.
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Nick Dynice (profile), 1 Sep 2010 @ 8:35am

It's simple. Patents aren't "green."
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Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 1 Sep 2010 @ 8:42am

Re: Unfortunately for the innovators
"The innovators in this space who aren't patenting their works are probably going to get sued soon enough by patent trolls if they don't stockpile now."

Stockpiling patents only help (as deterrance) in a patent nuclear war, where both sides make products that infringe on the other sides overly broad patents. Stockpiling doesn't help against a patent troll, because there's nothing to counter-sue against if the troll only owns a few pieces of paper that say they own an idea.
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Anonymous Coward, 1 Sep 2010 @ 8:46am

Maybe is because the green technology is being developed in other countries that is why people are in no rush to patent anything in the U.S.
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Vincent Clement, 1 Sep 2010 @ 9:07am

Re: Unfortunately for the innovators
It's a myth that the USA does not "manufacture much anymore".
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penstock, 1 Sep 2010 @ 12:06pm

Yes - we are busy "innovating"...
The patent process has become an industry unto itself - disconnected from the innovation industry. Hands-on innovation I can handle myself - I can actually participate in the day-to-day process. But patents - no more - they are something that is "bought" from a vendor (patent lawyers) who work pretty much within the vacuum of their own industry's legal jargon and claims development based on prior art. I'm trying to solve current problems, not analyzing the nuances of prior art to find a way to slip into a new patent. Not to mention that the patent application process has become hellishly expensive - tens of thousands of dollars on new products that require multiple claims and separate patents.
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Idobek (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 3:13am

Re:
"Has anyone yet laid a trademark claim upon the word green?"

I don't think it is trademarked but accross large parts of Europe they use "blue" to avoid confusion witt (or sugguested endorsement by) pre-existing, non-environmental political parties. Hence the VW "Bluemotion" series of cars.
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Pete Braven (profile), 2 Sep 2010 @ 6:40am

What's green about a patent/trademark?
There is of course plently of green technology happening and many people are using it. What possibly thows the patent offices, is that a very large chunk of it is developed very much as open source technology.
The attitude of most inventors/innovators in 'green tech' is that the patents process makes such developments far too expensive for the resulting inventions to benefit the environment,.. so they publish the whole thing as free and it then gets far greater use with other applications built around it.
The 'green tech' community has been telling governments and legal bodies to 'foxtrot-oscar' for years!
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