Here are some quick highlights from one of the side session:

Patents Technological Knowledge and Access to Climate Change Mitigation Technology

This session was hosted by the European Patent Office (EPO) and provided some interesting information on clean energy patents and how and why they fit into the climate negotiations. The presentation also presented a new search functionality that they developed to make it much easier to find patents relating to climate change mitigation technology.

But first, why is Intellectual Property (IP) something being talked about as part of a climate deal? To put it simply developing countries want access to technology that will help them mitigate the effects of climate change and most of this technology is being developed in developed countries and by private companies.

Now a little more about clean technology and patents. To begin with their is no specific class in the International Patent Classification (IPC) for clean energy technology, something that had made it harder to speak with certainty on this topic. Fortunately the EPO has taken it upon themselves to create a way to identify climate change mitigation technology patents in the system. They created a new search utility that allows you to search for green technology by pre-determined categories within the existing system. According to the presenter research that used to take months now takes 5 sec thanks to their new system. There are several reasons that making patents easier to find is important, first of all there are 60 million patent documents for 2 million patents worldwide which contain 60% of the worlds technical knowledge. So clearly easier access to this knowledge is beneficial for society. In addition easier identification of these patents also allows for us to get a better picture of what is at stake at these discussions, countries can better see who holds patents that might be covered if IP is included in any accord and a better informed discussion can be had.

One interesting fact that was mentioned at the presentation is that clean energy patents have skyrocketed since 1997, they have grown approximately 20% per annum since that date. So what happened in 1997 that could have encouraged this growth? The Kyoto protocol was created.

So to finish off with the practical let me mention some things about licensing. Currently the BRIC countries are the highest users of licensing of clean technology however it is not at a very high level. So what affects licensing? well according to a survey conducted by the EPO the main factors are: protection of IP, scientific capabilities, market conditions, and the investment climate. The survey also found that 70% of companies would give more flexible terms to developing countries; it also found that it was the small and medium sized companies as well as universities and public institutes that were more willing to offer the flexible terms. So licensing might present one way to allow the spread of technology to mitigate climate change to third wold countries and guidelines could be created that would seek to facilitate this process

All in all something interesting to discuss and an option to keep in mind. What are your thoughts?

Andres Fuentes, IFLRY and YLC Climate Change Conference Delegate 2009, 2010