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Patent law's role in the protection of the environment: re-assessing patent law and its justifications in the 21st century

Derclaye, Estelle

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Authors

ESTELLE DERCLAYE estelle.derclaye@nottingham.ac.uk
Professor of Intellectual Property Law



Abstract

The question this article addresses is whether patent law is the appropriate forum to ban polluting inventions, especially those that emit greenhouse gases. To answer this question, the paper scrutinises the functions and justifications for patent law, the morality and ordre public provision (art. 53(a) European Patent Convention) and supplementary protection certificates along with the relevant case law and literature. The paper finds that patent law is only apparently neutral, and therefore this is not a hindrance to it having a role to play in prohibiting polluting technologies and also in encouraging the invention and use of clean technologies. This is also congruent with current patent law rationales and arguments advanced by commentators and others advocated by the author. The paper concludes that European patent laws should be modified to strengthen the prohibition of polluting inventions and grant favoured treatment to green inventions especially those reducing greenhouses gases in the earth’s atmosphere.

Citation

Derclaye, E. (2009). Patent law's role in the protection of the environment: re-assessing patent law and its justifications in the 21st century. International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, 40(3),

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2009
Deposit Date Nov 6, 2014
Publicly Available Date Dec 2, 2022
Journal International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law
Print ISSN 0018-9855
Electronic ISSN 2195-0237
Publisher Max-Planck-Institut für Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 40
Issue 3
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1014345

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