Looking at the current global trend to go “green” or develop a more “eco-friendly” lifestyle, it has become quite clear that the world now recognizes the need to resolve or mitigate environmental impact and to conserve our natural environment and resources.
South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States of America have recently enacted measures to speed up the prosecution of patent applications on green technology. The expected outcome of this is to expedite public access to green technology and encourage additional private investment in new green technology, which can only spur green technology innovation and in turn benefit us all.
In Korea, patent applications relating to green technology will undergo a complete substantive examination process within 1 month from the date of filing, making it the fastest in the world. It is referred to as the “super speed” examination system.
Patent applications for green technologies in the UK may be granted within 9 months if all the patentability requirements are met, while under the Green Technology Pilot Program, those in the US can expect a reduction of up to 12 months from the total amount of time normally needed to obtain a patent. Previously, patent applications in these countries would only be examined a few years from the date of filing.
Not all patent applications relating to green technologies will have this preferential treatment. There are certain requirements to be met before this type of patent application can enjoy this privilege. For instance, in Korea, before a patent application can be examined under the super speed examination system, the applicant must first request that a prior art search be conducted by one of the three search agencies officially sanctioned by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO).
China, Australia and Canada have recently announced that they will be amending their patent laws to allow for the examination of green technology patent applications to be expedited. To be sure, other countries will have to follow suit.
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