[A2k] IP-Watch: Prevent Patents Inhibiting Knowledge Diffusion For Green Technology, EU Told

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/2009/06/26/prevent-patents-inhibiting-knowle=
dge-diffusion-for-green-technology-eu-told/

26 June 2009
Prevent Patents Inhibiting Knowledge Diffusion For Green Technology,
EU Told
By David Cronin for Intellectual Property Watch @ 9:40 am

Stringent intellectual property rules could hamper the spread of
technology needed to fight climate change, an advisor to European
Union policy-makers has warned.

The transfer of non-polluting technology from industrialised to
developing countries is likely to be one of the key topics addressed
when international negotiators meet in Copenhagen this December as
part of efforts to fashion a successor to the Kyoto protocol, as the
core United Nations accord aimed at addressing global warming is known.

Paul David, a member of the Knowledge for Growth (K4G) group, which
counsels the European Commission on industrial innovation, appealed to
the EU and US not to resort to litigation over patents relating to
=91green=92 technology such as that used in generating renewable energy.

Arguing that patents can =93inhibit=94 the spread of equipment to
developing countries that are most affected by water shortages and
other symptoms of climate change, he said: =93What we need is the freer
moving of technology knowledge.=94

David, also a professor of economics at Stanford University in
California, predicted that the scientific community has a =93window=94 of
only fifteen years to develop technologies for addressing climate
change if emissions of carbon dioxide are to be stabilised by the
middle of this century. Such stabilisation will be necessary, he said,
if an increase in the earth=92s temperature of two degrees Celsius above
pre-industrial levels is to be averted.

Speaking at a Brussels conference on 25 June, David added: =93We need to
think seriously about global warming in the way that countries have
previously thought about war.=94

The K4G group was formed at the Commission=92s behest in 2005 as part of
its work towards the official objective of transforming the European
Union into the world=92s economic powerhouse by the end of this decade.
Known as the =91Lisbon strategy=92, this goal was declared by EU
governments at a summit in the Portuguese capital during 2000.

The Commission has viewed robust protection of IP rights as an
essential element of its strategy. In its assessments of European
innovation, it has used the number of patent applications for new
inventions as one of the principal indicators of the success of
scientific research, particularly that undertaken by universities.

Last year, the Commission noted that the number of applications made
to the European Patent Office in Munich for higher education bodies
represented just 10% of all applications made by the EU=92s 27
countries. In 2003, for example, a total of 51,000 patent applications
were made from the EU, of which 4,660 were from higher education
bodies. Nonetheless, the number of higher education-linked patent
applications made in the EU rose by 28% between 1994 and 2003.

Janez Potocnik, the European commissioner for scientific research,
said that =93successful management of intellectual property is a key
issue=94 if the EU is to register economic growth in the future.

One component of the Lisbon strategy commits the EU=92s governments to
devoting 3% of their collective gross domestic product to research and
development (R&D) by 2010. Although Potocnik conceded that this goal
is unlikely to be attained, he argued that it would be wrong for EU
governments or for the private sector to reduce its expenditure on
innovation in response to the recession.

=93History has shown us that investments have been made in innovation
and research when the prevailing advice is that these are a luxury,=94
he said. =93But these have proven to be anything but.=94

Potocnik noted that Microsoft had increased its spending on research
during the last quarter of 2008, despite having suffered significant
losses in revenue. =93Many times we have heard people talking about
turning crisis into opportunity,=94 he added. =93This has lost meaning
under the tsunami of clich=E9. But it still has a grain of truth.

=93Europe accounts for approximately one-quarter of (global) R&D
spending. We need to increase these resources and make better use of
them. This is the only way to get the maximum bang for our buck. In
times of crisis, R&D spending should not be cut. It can create an
immediate demand for high-skilled workers. But it is also an
investment for the future that enables companies to emerge stronger
when the upturn comes.=94

Reinhilde Veugelers, an economics professor at Belgium=92s University of
Leuven, said that strong IP standards were one of the factors observed
behind the successes of EU countries that had encountered growth
before the world=92s economy went into recession.

=93Top performers=94 such as Ireland, Slovenia and the Czech Republic =93di=
d
well=94 on a range of indicators such as macro-economic stability,
efficient markets and high educational performance, along with having
IP rules in place, she said. =93The countries at the bottom =96 such as
Romania and Bulgaria =96 scored very low on all these key drivers,=94 she
added.

Luc Soete, director of the United Nations University-Maastricht
Economic and Social Research and Training Centre on Innovation and
Technology in the Netherlands, complained, however that the Lisbon
strategy has been too focused on =93economic growth in a very narrow
sense.=94

Soete urged that the =91Knowledge for Growth=92 group should be
transformed into a =91knowledge for sustainable development=92 one. Rather
than examining how to perform better than competitors such as the US,
it should study how knowledge and technology designed to reduce
pollution can be spread in a way that best addresses the ecological
woes besetting the planet, he suggested.

=93We need to move away from the old obsession with technological
competitiveness viewed through a very narrow framework,=94 he said. =93The
citizens in Europe, as well as those in the rest of the world,
ultimately depend on knowledge diffusion.=94

David Cronin may be reached at info@ip-watch.ch.

------------------------------------------------------------


Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997