U.S. PTO launches Green Technology Pilot Program to fast track processing of green patents
Co-authored with Cyrus Frelinghuysen.
On December 7th, just hours before the United Nations Climate Change Conference was set to begin in Copenhagen, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) announced the launch of its Green Technology Pilot Program to speed the processing of green patents. The Program is initially set to run for only twelve months. At the end of that period, the PTO will determine whether to extend the program based both on the efficacy of the program and on feedback from participants. In addition, under the program, the PTO will accept a maximum of 3000 applications, but will reevaluate the resources needed to extend the program should the PTO receive more than 3000 applications.
The announcement was made at a joint event held by the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy. At the event, Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu also announced that $100 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which President Obama signed into law in February, will be made available to accelerate innovation in green technology, increase America’s competitiveness, and create jobs.
Regarding the new Green Technology Pilot Program, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke explained that, “American competitiveness depends on innovation, and innovation depends on creative Americans developing new technology. By ensuring that many new products will receive patent protection more quickly, we can encourage our brightest innovators to invest needed resources in developing new technologies and help bring those technologies to market more quickly.” Echoing that view, PTO Director David Kappos declared, “Every day an important green tech innovation is hindered from coming to market is another day we harm our planet and another day lost in creating green businesses and green jobs. Applications in this pilot program will see a significant savings in pendency, which will help bring green innovations to market more quickly.”
Ordinarily, the PTO processes patent applications in the order the applications are received. Under the new Green Technology Pilot Program, however, applications related to “green technologies,” i.e., applications pertaining to environmental quality, energy conservation, development of renewable energy resources, or greenhouse gas emission reduction, will be granted accelerated examination, provided those applications meet the program’s requirements. Secretary Locke told reporters that the goal of the program is to reduce the time it takes to review an application from 40 months to 12 months, allowing inventors to secure funding and launch businesses more quickly.
Reaction to the launch of the Green Technology Pilot Program has been generally positive. Carl Horton, Chief Intellectual Property Counsel of General Electric, said, “We hail this initiative as an excellent incentive to fuel further innovation of clean technology and a terrific mechanism to speed the dissemination of these patented technologies throughout the world.” In Q3 of 2009, General Electric was granted four fuel cell and four wind technology patents, according the to the latest CEPGI report.
According to the most recent Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) report, the PTO granted 271 green patents in Q3 of 2009, bringing the total number of green patents issued in 2009 to 788.
