The Eco-Patent Commons reaches a new milestone

I’ve talked about the Eco-Patent Commons a couple of times before, including in a recent announcement of a presentation I gave yesterday at the Licensing Executives Society (LES) USA-Canada Annual Meeting.

Fortunately my presentation happened to coincide with a press release that was issued yesterday and which announces two new members: Dow Chemical and Fuji-Xerox, as well as a new pledge by Xerox. This brings the number of members to 11 and the number of patents in the commons to 100.

As I stated before while these numbers do not demonstrate an explosion in membership and pledged patents I’m pleased to see a continuous increase on both fronts. In particular, the fact that existing members keep adding patents, beyond the initial pledge done to become a member, demonstrates a real commitment to the commons.

Based on the feedback I got and the people who came to meet me afterward, my talk at LES was very well received and spiked quite some interest. I have to say that it must have been quite a change for these people who otherwise pretty much only hear about generating more money out of their IP for three full days!

I hope all this helps spread the word on this important project. Just to give an example of a tangible impact this project already had. IBM pledged a patent on the substitution of a toxic solvent used in the manufacturing of electronic chip by a mixture of alcohol and water better for the environment. We’ve been informed that the Yale University is now using this for its quantum computing device research. How cool is that?

Please, look into it if you haven’t done so already. Participating in such a project is a great opportunity to show leadership in the protection of the environment, and looking for ways to foster sustainable development not only makes good sense, it is simply part of our social responsibility.

I’m attaching the slides I used at the conference.

Eco-Patent Commons at LES USA-Canada 2009 Annual Meeting