There can no longer be any doubt that promoting green innovations is essential if we are to meet the challenges of sustainable development, climate change, and intergenerational equity. With the maturity of this crucial awareness has come full recognition of the intellectual property rights of green innovators – an area of international law that has drawn a host of initiatives not only from lawyers and legal scholars but also from highly knowledgeable and well-placed authorities such as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Patent Office, the United Nations Environment Program, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, the European Commission, and national environmental agencies. In this first-ever survey and analysis of the current and emerging state of the field, twenty-two outstanding practitioners, academics, policymakers, and officials describe the relevant work of all of these groups. Among the array of topics covered are the following: vast diversity of products, services, and processes; legacy IP measures from R&D in computers and semiconductors; role of green technology’s moral underpinning; wide-open startup vs. exorbitant up-front cost; and licensing issues in technology transfer. Although primarily intended for professionals concerned with the legal aspects of green technology – lawyers, policymakers, agency officials, academics – this book will also be of great value to inventors and technology companies as a guide to mechanisms for managing and sharing intellectual property rights in the context of green innovations. It is sure to engage a wide audience for years to come.

The most important theme of the discourse on sustainable development and sustainability challenges concerns the relationship between innovation and sustainability. This book represents a realistic critical overview of the state of affairs of sustainable innovations, offering an accessible and comprehensive diagnostic point of reference for both the academic and practitioner worlds. In order for sustainable innovation to truly become mainstream practice in business it is necessary to find out how organizations can strategically and efficiently accommodate sustainability and innovation in such a manner that they accomplish value capturing (for firms, stakeholders, and for society), not merely creating a return on the social responsibility agenda. Addressing this challenge, the book draws together research from a range of perspectives in order to understand the potential shifts and barriers, benefits, and outcomes from all angles: inception, strategic process, and impact for companies and society. The book also delivers insights of (open) innovation in public sector organizations, which is not so much a process of invention as it is one of adoption and diffusion. It examines how the environmental pillar of the triple bottom line in private firms is often a by-product of thinking about the economic pillar, where cost reductions may be achieved through process innovation in terms of eliminating waste and reducing energy consumption. The impact of open innovation on process innovation, and sustainable process innovation in particular, is an underexplored area but is examined in this book. It also considers the role of the individual entrepreneur in bringing about sustainable innovation; entrepreneurs, their small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as the innovation ecosystems they build play a significant role in generating sustainable innovations where these smaller organizations are much more flexible than large organizations in targeting societal needs and challenges. The readership will incorporate PhD students and postgraduate researchers, as well as practitioners from organizational advisory fields.

This brochure explains how the IPC Green Inventory can give direct access to the latest patent information about technologies in a number of fields including alternative energy production, energy conservation, transportation, waste management, and agriculture and forestry

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an ambitious roadmap for human progress. This brochure explains how WIPO's work supports the SDGs by enabling innovation for the economic, social and cultural development of all countries.

This book comprises chapters by leading international authors analysing the interface between intellectual property and foreign direct investment, development, and free trade. The authors search for a balance between the conflicting interests that inherently coexist in intellectual property law. The chapters dig deep into the subjects and notions that have become central in international intellectual property legal developments: i) flexibility, public interest and policy-space for implementation; ii) interfaces between the intellectual property regime and other legal regimes; and iii) the development of international intellectual property law and its influence on national legal orders, which includes the implementation of intellectual property undertakings.

This collection considers the future of climate innovation after the Paris Agreement. It analyses the debate over intellectual property and climate change in a range of forums – including the climate talks, the World Trade Organization, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, as well as multilateral institutions dealing with food, health, and biodiversity. The book investigates the critical role patent law plays in providing incentives for renewable energy and access to critical inventions for the greater public good, as well as plant breeders’ rights and their impact upon food security and climate change. Also considered is how access to genetic resources raises questions about biodiversity and climate change. This collection also explores the significant impact of trademark law in terms of green trademarks, eco labels, and greenwashing. The key role played by copyright law in respect of access to environmental information is also considered. The book also looks at deadlocks in the debate over intellectual property and climate change, and provides theoretical, policy, and practical solutions to overcome such impasses.