You do not have to be a scientist to know the world is in an environmental crisis. Plastic waste is piling up virtually everywhere, and pollution is at an all-time high.
While many countries are doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint, it takes more than just regulations to create real change in this area.
Thankfully, environmentally conscious innovators are developing technologies that can help reverse or at least slow down the environmental crisis. Like other innovations, the greatest challenge to these innovators is safeguarding their innovations, and that’s where IP laws come in.
What are Green Technologies?
Green technologies, also known as environmental technologies, refer to practices and products that reduce energy consumption while helping to protect the environment.
They can include renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower, as well as improved efficiency in heating and cooling systems and use of new materials that are more recyclable than traditional ones.
These technologies are key to achieving sustainability – a state where human activity does not exceed our planet’s ability to support us.
IP Laws and Their Role in Spearheading Technologies
IP is the acronym for Intellectual Property, which refers to a person’s creative work or invention. IP laws are designed to protect the rights of these inventions to ensure creatives and innovators benefit from their creations.
Categories of intellectual property include trade secrets, trademarks, copyrights, and patents, with trademarks and patents being the most applicable IP laws in the green technology industry.
How Trademarks Work for Green Technologies
Trademarks are symbols, names, slogans, marks, or sounds used to identify the goods and services of a specific company or individual. When used properly, they become synonymous with a specific product.
By obtaining a trademark, inventors get exclusive rights to use the identifier in connection with their invention or products and prevent others from using it without authorization. This means their customers will easily pick their products from the crowded market, which can help improve profits.
Trademark protections in Canada run for renewable terms of ten years. In other words, an innovator can secure their trademark for life as long as they pay service fees after every ten years.
Role of Patents in Spearheading Green Technology
If you are involved with developing technologies, you will need more than trademarks to protect your business because trademarks are limited to identifiers. For example, if you want to protect specific inventions or product designs, you may want to consider getting patent protections.
A patent is a form of intellectual property protection that grants the holder exclusive rights over their invention. Two main types of patents apply to green technology innovations; utility and design patents, also known as industrial design rights in the Canadian context.
Utility patents protect inventions that are novel, useful, and non-obvious. These patents can apply to products such as renewable energy sources, efficient heating and cooling systems, or new materials that are more recyclable than traditional ones.
Design patents protect the non-functional aspects of a product, such as its aesthetics, shape, texture, or color. The product doesn’t have to be novel, but the design has to, and it can’t have anything to do with the function of the product.
Countries have different approaches to patent law, but the core principles of securing a patent remain relatively the same. For example, most countries have a 20-year protection period for utility patents and 15 years for design patents.
Where to Register Your IPs
Country laws designate the bodies through which its inventors and creators can register their IPs. The law places the responsibility for IP registrations in Canada on the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO).
Registration of IPs under Canadian laws limits IP rights protection to Canada, meaning the rights are not enforceable beyond Canadian territory. If you want to have a broader scope of protection, you may want to register your IPs with the World Intellectual Property Organization, which offers protection on a global scale.