(691a) Protecting Innovations in Green Technology

Today we have unprecedented interest and growth in green technology (?greentech?). That growth necessarily includes innovations in several different areas of green technology. Greentech companies can use intellectual property law to protect those innovations.

My presentation will provide a general summary of the four areas of intellectual property law and how those areas may be used to protect green technology. Additionally, the presentation will discuss greentech-specific considerations for the different areas of intellectual property law, such as the (1) U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Pilot Program for Green Technologies; (2) impacts of a heightened non-obvious standard on obtaining patents in more established greentech areas, such as solar, water, and wind energy; (3) importance of freedom-to-operate and validity analyses for green technology; and (4) considerations for choosing between patent and trade secret protection in greentech.