Incentivizing Sustainable Tech: Brazil’s Green Patent Program
With the rise of the climate crisis, there has been an onslaught of new inventions created as a response. In order to further incentivize development in green technology, the Brazilian government in particular started a fast track patent procedure -- known as the Green Patent Program, it was launched in 2012 and became a permanent part of the Brazilian Patent Office in 2016, due to its success.
A major issue with the patenting process is the length of time it typically takes an individual or organization to be granted the patent. Depending on the type of technology, it can often take over 10 years for a patent to be granted -- with the Green Patent Program, the examination process is expedited in order to prioritize applications which refer to environmentally friendly technologies. Under this program, these sorts of patents have been approved in as little as 18 months, vastly cutting down on the time it would normally take.
What Qualifies as Green Tech?
The World Intellectual Property Office’s International Patent Classification Green Inventory formed the basis of the type of technology which qualifies for the Green Patent Program. This inventory entails a non-exhaustive list and includes renewable energy generation; solar, wind, hydro, wave and tidal; biofuels, energy storage technologies such as fuel cells and high-performance batteries; energy efficiency and energy infrastructure; transportation, water filtration and wastewater treatment; air and environment pollution reducing systems; building materials, manufacturing or industrial agriculture; and recycling waste material. Although they are not included on the list provided by the World Intellectual Property Office, devices with improved serviceability or easy maintenance are also eligible for the green patent program.
It is important to note that there are limits to the number of claims that are allowed to be made in the initial application. While there are a maximum of 15 total claims allowed, only 3 of these are permitted to be independent claims. This obligation has been noted for increasing the credibility of projects submitted and prevents judicial claims relating to technical issues from being submitted.
Further Expansion of the Program
Despite the program becoming permanent in 2016, international knowledge of it is limited. Brazil itself has the highest number of requests with 712 coming from within the country. The United States had the second highest number of requests, but only with 95 total. As such, the Brazilian Patent Office is now aiming to disseminate information regarding the green patent program to all regions of Brazil as well as to the international community as a whole.
The priority status given to these applications has caused an increase in the number of applications for patents on green technology, demonstrating the benefits of incentivizing the creation of such technology. Brazil is currently one of the few countries in the world which has permanently implemented this process, following through on their objective to prioritize such applications.
As the world moves toward implementing sustainable development, it is vital to continue innovation in the field of green technology, Brazil`s Green Patent Program can serve as a model to see that this transition is fully realized.
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