Protect eco
As governments worldwide address climate change, they are looking to inventors and research organisations for ideas.在全球各国政府应对气候变化之际，它们正向发明者和研究机构寻求建议。
They are also hoping that investors and manufacturing companies will play a part in development, motivated by the prospect of getting a return on investment through the exploitation of intellectual property rights, such as patents.
它们还希望，投资者和制造业企业将会在专利等知识产权投资回报前景的激励下，参与开发。
IP rights accrue to inventors and developers, and offer legal protection against plagiarists, as well as the right to decide who can use the technology and what it will cost.
知识产权令发明者和开发者受益。它们为打击盗版提供法律保护，并让专利所有人有权决定专利使用人和费用。
Most green technologies will be protected by patents for new and industrially useful processes, methods, manufacture or machines, or for notable improvements to existing ones.
大多数绿色技术将受到专利的保护，包括在工业上有用的新工艺、方法、工业品或设备，或对现有技术的显著改善。
Although the application process can be long and costly, the owner of the patent has an exclusive right that stops others from making, using, selling, importing or copying without permission.
尽管申请过程可能很长，而且费用不菲，但专利所有人拥有专有权利，可禁止他人在未经许可的情况下制造、使用、出售、进口或拷贝技术。
The success of eco-technology will owe as much to strategies for using and protecting IP as to the underlying processes or concepts.
生态技术的成功，将不仅归功于根本的工艺或理念，还将归功于利用和保护知识产权的战略。
Global distribution of technologies will mean having to make sure IP is protected in other jurisdictions and, as exclusivity is limited to 20 years, owners will need to capitalise on “newness” to break into important markets and then licensing for continuing revenue.
在全球范围内应用技术，将意味着必须确保知识产权在其它司法管辖地受到保护，而且由于专有权的有效期限制在20年，所有者将需要利用“新颖性”打入重要市场，然后通过授权获得持续收入。
Green innovation is so important that the world's largest economy has invested heavily. US patents for clean energy technologies in 2009 were at an all-time high, at 1,125.
绿色创新非常重要，以至于全球最大的经济体为此投入巨资。2009年，美国清洁能源技术专利数达到1125件，创历史新高。
The UK, US and Australia have all introduced fast-track schemes. “This ‘Green Channel' should bring low-carbon technology to markets quicker, by avoiding a backlog of applications,” says Justin Watts, IP partner at Freshfields, the law firm.
英国、美国和澳大利亚都推出了快速通道方案。富而德律师事务所知识产权合伙人贾斯廷?沃茨表示：“这种‘绿色通道'避免了申请积压，有助于更快向市场推出低碳技术。”
Despite a decline during the economic downturn, the UK Patent Office receives more than 20,000 applications a week – of which 200 are “green” focused. The US pilot scheme aims to reduce the application process from as long as four years, to 12 months. Patent offices warn, though, that public disclosure will come earlier so details may be discovered by competitors.
尽管申请数量在经济衰退期间有所下降，但英国专利局每周仍收到逾2万份申请——其中有200份是聚焦于“绿色”技术的。美国的试点方案旨在将申请过程从长达4年缩减到12个月。不过，专利部门警告称，专利申请公开说明书将更早发表，因此专利细节可能会被竞争对手发现。
In the decade following the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the European Patent Office has seen steady growth in environmental patent applications, particularly for clean energy technologies.
在1997年《京都议定书》签订后的十年里，欧洲专利局收到的环境专利技术申请一直在稳步增长，尤其是清洁能源技术。
According to David Sant, a patent attorney at law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, “Fuel cell patents dominate, at quadruple the number of competing eco-technologies. Wind energy has shown significant increases over seven years although solar energy is up 60 per cent on last year and is likely to overtake it.
金马伦麦坚拿律师事务所专利律师戴维?桑特表示：“燃料电池专利申请占主导地位，数量是其它生态技术的四倍。过去7年来，风能专利申请数量大幅增加，尽管太阳能专利申请数比去年高出60%，有望超过风能专利。”
“There has been a huge jump in biomass, too. In contrast, hydro-electric and tidal patents decreased during 2009.”
“生物质专利申请数也大幅增长。相比之下，水电和潮汐专利申请在2009年有所下降。”
The highest number of clean energy patent applications is lodged by the US, which accounts for a quarter, followed by Germany and Japan at 18 and 16 per cent respectively in 2008. The same countries dominate in ownership of patents, with the US estimated to own about half, Japan just under a third and Germany almost a 10th globally.
清洁能源专利申请数量最高的是美国，占到申请总数的四分之一，其次是德国和日本——在2008年的比例分别为18%和16%。这些国家拥有的专利数量也占据主导地位——美国拥有的专利估计占到全球总数的一半左右，日本接近三分之一，德国接近十分之一。
Among emerging economies, most international applications came from South Korea, China, India, Singapore and Brazil, with China accounting for 10 per cent. South Korea owns three times as many clean energy patents as the UK.
在新兴经济体中，大多数国际申请来自韩国、中国、印度、新加坡和巴西，其中中国占10%，韩国拥有的清洁能源专利是英国的三倍。
“Surprisingly,” says Isabel Davies, an IP partner at CMS Cameron McKenna, “the top companies for owning clean energy patents are automobile companies, namely Honda, General Motors, Toyota and Nissan.
金马伦麦坚拿律师事务所知识产权合伙人伊莎贝尔?戴维斯表示：“令人意外的是，拥有清洁能源专利的顶尖企业是汽车公司，即本田、通用汽车、丰田和日产。
“Other less obvious players are General Electric – a leader in wind patents – Samsung for fuel cells and Canon in solar power.
“其它不那么容易想到的公司是通用电气——风能专利的领军者、三星——燃料电池、以及佳能——太阳能。
“The Eco-Patent Commons, set up in 2008 through the World Business Council for Sustainable Development and in partnership with large corporations, has resulted in 100 patents being donated by companies to facilitate collaboration to discover products that are environmentally beneficial.”
“世界可持续发展工商理事会在2008年创建了‘生态专利共享计划'。该计划与大企业建立合作关系，已经使得包括博世、陶氏化学、杜邦、富士施乐、IBM、诺基亚、Pitney Bowes、理光、索尼和施乐在内的企业捐赠了100项专利，以促进协作，开发有益环境的产品。”
Green branding has become big business, as increasing consumer awareness has made eco-trademarks valuable. Companies are registering eco-trademarks to prevent competitors from copying branding symbols or attempting to pass off their products as those of others.
随着消费者意识不断提高，生态商标变得非常有价值，绿色品牌的运作已成为巨大业务。企业正在注册生态商标，以阻止竞争对手拷贝品牌符号或假冒其它公司产品。
Andrew Hobson of law firm Reynolds Porter Chamberlain points out that “there is a ‘second tier' of green technology consisting of low-technology and low-cost products, which are nevertheless widely used, such as environmentally friendlier cleaning products”.
律师事务所Reynolds Porter Chamberlain的安德鲁?霍布森指出，“还有一类‘二等'绿色技术，由低技术含量、低成本、但广泛使用的产品组成，比如对环境更为友好的清洁产品。”
页:
[1]