Three Companies Join Eco-Patent Commons, Dedicate Environmentally Friendly Patents to Public

In early September, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced that Bosch, DuPont, and Xerox Corporation have joined the Eco-Patent Commons (EPC) and have pledged certain environmental technology patents to the public domain.

The EPC was launched in January by companies including IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony. Pledging of patents is touted as a new way to use patents as a catalyst for further innovation; companies’ donated patents under the Eco-Patent Commons are licensed to others to use, free of charge, subject to a defensive termination clause that allows the company to terminate the license if the licensee sues the patent holder for infringement of another patent.

The newly pledged patents include:

• a Xerox technology that significantly reduces the time and cost of removing hazardous waste from water and soil
• a technology developed by DuPont that converts certain non-recyclable plastics into beneficial fertilizer
• automotive technologies from Bosch that help lower fuel consumption, reduce emissions, or convert waste heat from vehicles into useful energy
• technologies developed by founding EPC member Sony that focus on the recycling of optical discs.

In most cases, pledged patents are not so-called “bread and butter” technologies or a centerpiece to a company’s business model, but they are useful and valuable in their industries. Examples of environmental benefits associated with pledged patents are energy conservation, pollution prevention, use of environment-friendly materials, and reduction or recycling of materials.

A business need pledge only one patent to join the initiative. EPC members also are discussing how to use eco-friendly ideas that are not patented or whose patents have expired, as well as creating an eco-patent pool available only to members.