IBM and WBCSD team with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony to establish eco-patent commons

New Delhi: Leading members of the corporate community have come together in a first-of-its-kind effort to help the environment, unleashing dozens of innovative, environmentally-responsible patents to the public domain. Availability of these patents will encourage researchers, entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes in any industry to create, apply, and further develop their consumer or industrial products, processes, and services in a way that will help to protect and respect the environment.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and IBM—named by IFI claims as the leading earner of US patents for the 15th consecutive year—are initiating this effort in partnership with Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony. The pledged portfolio, dubbed the "Eco-Patent Commons," is available on a dedicated, public Web site hosted by the WBCSD (http://www.wbcsd.org/web/epc).

Dr. Daniel Dias, director, IBM India Research Laboratory, said, “IBM, as the leader in US patents for 15 consecutive years with 3,125 patents issued in 2007, is excited to bring its patent resources to bear to help protect the environment. Innovation to address environmental issues calls for both the application of technology as well as new models for sharing intellectual property. We strongly urge other companies to contribute to the Eco-Patent Commons. Such a free exchange of valuable intellectual property will accelerate work on the next level of environmental challenges."

Patents pledged to the Eco-Patent Commons—originally proposed at IBM's Global Innovation Outlook conference—feature innovations focused on environmental matters and innovations in manufacturing or business processes where the solution provides an environmental benefit. For example, a company may pledge a patent for a manufacturing process that reduces hazardous waste generation, or energy or water consumption. A pledged patent covering a procurement or logistics solution may reduce fuel consumption.

Bjorn Stigson, president of theWBCSD, stated, “The Eco-Patent Commons provides a unique and significant leadership opportunity for business to make a difference—sharing their innovations and solutions in support of sustainable development. The Eco-Patent Commons also provides an opportunity for companies and other entities to identify areas of common interest and establish new relationships that can lead to further development in the patented technologies and elsewhere.”

Membership in the Eco-Patent Commons is open to all individuals and companies pledging one or more patents. The selection and submission of each organization’s patents for pledging is at the organization's discretion. The founding companies and the WBCSD are inviting other interested companies to become members and participate in this initiative promoting innovation and collaboration to help protect the planet.

Donal O’Connell, director of Intellectual Property, Nokia, said, “Environmental issues have great potential to help us discover the next wave of innovation because they force us all to think differently about how we make, consume and recycle products. From Nokia we have pledged a patent designed to help companies safely re-use old mobile phones by transforming them into new products like digital cameras, data monitoring devices or other electronic items. Recycling the computing power of mobile phones in this way could significantly increase the reuse of materials in the electronics industry.”

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