Expedited Patent Examination For "Green" Technologies

We have reported previously on the increasing importance of "green" technologies in the world of intellectual property. In recent years, "IP buzzwords" have included superconductors, gene patents and computer software – and society's ever-increasing environmental awareness ensures that "greentech" is the latest vogue.

Unlike gene patents and computer software, there is a general acceptance that green technologies should patentable – the few dissenters who argue that such technologies should be in the public domain appear to overlook the basic quid pro quo of the "patent bargain" –being that without the prospect of patent protection, researchers would have no incentive to develop such technologies in the first place. In this respect, any patentability issues surrounding green technologies are more closely akin to those experienced 25 years ago in respect of superconductors – in other words, how can the patent system be poked and prodded in order to