IP Spotlight

This week the World Business Council for Sustainable Development announced that Bosch, DuPont, and Xerox Corporation joined the Eco-Patent Commons and pledged certain environmental technology patents to the public domain. 

According to the EPC’s press release, the patents include:

- A cutting edge, Xerox technology that significantly reduces the time and cost of removing hazardous waste from water and soil;

- A technology developed by DuPont that converts certain non-recyclable plastics into beneficial fertilizer;

- Automotive technologies from Bosch that help lower fuel consumption, reduce emissions, or convert waste heat from vehicles into useful energy; and

- Technologies developed by founding member Sony that focus on the recycling of optical discs.

The Eco-Patent Commons was launched in January 2008 by companies including IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes, and Sony.  Companies who donate patents to the Eco-Patent Commons license others to use the patents, free of charge, subject to a defensive termination clause that allows the company to terminate the license if the licensee sues the patent holder for infringement of another patent.