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, business methods and computer
software. Society's ever-increasing environmental awareness
now 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 a
quarter-century ago in respect of superconductors – in
other words, how can the patent system be poked and prodded
