Transcript Green IP Scheme

GREEN IP SCHEME
An Innovation Today for Innovations Tomorrow
A Driver to Foster Socio/Ecological Technologies
… The revamped regime, namely the "Green
Intellectual Property (GIP)" scheme or more
explicitly the "Patent Insurance (PI)" scheme, would
call for maintaining a reliable and sustainable patent
system and assuring unimpeded access to
socio/ecological needs or "green" technologies
while "insuring" strong patent protections and
consequently stimulating R&D even for unexploited
markets. …
Green Technologies
 Sociological technologies, typically including medicines.
 Ecological technologies such as conventional ecofriendly technologies as well as hydrogen economy and
space photovoltaic.
Do we need patents?
 Since the Young Report in 1985, pro-patentists have
argued patents allow us to enrich our society through
technological progress accelerated by an increase in
capital intensity for patentees.
 However, patents have also spawned fierce disputes
when they interfered with access to necessary
technologies such as essential medicines.
 Since the Doha Declaration in 2001, particularly, the
worldwide anti-patent protest has successfully justified
the flexibility in the patent regime for impoverished
nations, which have now begun actually invoking the
public health safeguard measures, specifically raising
number of compulsory licenses.
JAPAN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION PROJECT,
JICA PROJECT REPORT
 Since 2002, the Japanese International Cooperation Agency
(“JICA”) has undertaken the Project for Improvement of
Environmental Protection Technology for Metallurgical Combustion
at Beijing in order to transfer eco-friendly technology to the
Chinese steel industry.
 JICA has deployed equipment provisions, conducted joint exercises,
invited experts, and held workshops in China in order to improve
their existing technologies (Bolar exemption).
 However, several critics have argued that applying these ecofriendly technologies on a widespread scale to factories in China
runs into patent-related difficulties. Since the technologies were
developed by the Japanese steel industry, some are protected by
patents. This protection means that Chinese industries have to pay
high royalties when they import or produce these Japanese patentprotected products.
Fierce battles over drug patents.
JAN 1995: Creation of WTO and entry into force of TRIPS.
MAY 1998: South Africa AIDS trial.
MAY 2000: US/WTO dispute panel against Brazil.
NOV 2001: Doha declaration.
Since 2001: Brazil, repeated warning of compulsory licenses for
negotiating lower prices.
AUG 2003: August 30th decision (Paragraph VI scheme).
MAY 2006: Novartis case in India.
MAR 2006: Pfizer case in Philippines.
NOV 2006: Thailand, first invoking compulsory license.
JAN 2007: Thailand, subsequently invoking two compulsory licenses.
MAY 2007: Brazil, invoking compulsory license.
OCT 2007: Canada, first notifying compulsory license for aid
exportation.
SEP 2007: Thailand, announcing a plan of four compulsory licenses.
A downward trend of the number of patent
applications for HIV/AIDS medicines in and toward
the US since 2001.
1948 2000
700
HIV/AIDS
500
1493
1500
400
HIV/Ap.Pub.
914 319
276
1000
300
Rheu./Patent
200
548
100
439
95
122
560
129
760
844
171
145
133
HIV/Patent
0
500
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Year of Applications
Rheumatism
Rheu./Ap.Pub
600
Although applications filed under PCT increased
by 4.7% in 2007...
Biotechnology: -2.5%
Pharmaceuticals: 0.1%
Agriculture and food (GM): -1.2%
Retrogression to the "IP anarchy“
Remember the failure of Vienna Exhibition in 1873?
 The degradation of reliance on patents would result in
the reduced number of applications and resultant
fomentation of corporate secrecy to avoid invention
disclosure.
 Increased use of secrecy and implanted protections
would slow the rate of incremental and genuine
innovations in areas where the soft patent regime or the
open source approach has proven impossible.
Sources: Scenarios for the future, EPO, 2007.
Alternative mechanisms to foster R&D
 WHO/CIPIH has recognized a number of proposals to
foster R&D for neglected needs, including prizes,
treaties, public-private partnerships, advance market
commitments, market exclusivities (orphan drug
schemes), tax credits, patent pools, patent buy-outs,
open source schemes, patent extensions and fast
tracking regulatory review.
 How can society find stable financial resources for state
and NGO funding comparable to the earnings by patent
monopolies?
 … And the government is not always successful in
planning and directing research.
Sources: Public health innovation and intellectual property rights,
WHO/CIPIH, 2004.
Scenarios for the future, EPO, 2007.
Green IP (Patent Insurance) Scheme
 The PI scheme is designed to impose the "PI premium" in
addition to existing official fees on patent
applicants/owners to create the "PI trust fund."
 The premium would consist of mandatory and voluntary PI
fees, which would finance the core and extended PI plans,
respectively.
 The PI trust fund would be operated by the International
Bank for Intellectual Property (IBIP), a financing institution
proposed to be an affiliated entity of the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO).
Core Plan
 The core plan would cover all patents regardless of their
value in return for the mandatory premium.
 Under this plan, the PI fund would furnish a financial
source for a variety of the proposed tools to foster
ecological R&Ds and to intensify activities in needed but
neglected technologies, especially including prizes, publicprivate partnerships and treaties.
 This financial aid would allow society to recognize the
utility of the patent regime as fending off criticism,
resulting in upholding the efficient patent system and
consequently ensuring patent properties.
 The core plan would serve as a "green tax" to facilitate
market incorporating its failure attributed to the current IP
system.
Extended Plan
 The extended plan would be offered to more valuable
patents, such as high-tech ecological and drug patents, by
paying the voluntary premium.
 This plan would provide financial assistance to technology
users when they have unfavorable or no access to a
patented technology due to a lack of capital and such
users are condemned to issue safeguard measures.
 This assistance would compensate the cost of technology
transfer, particularly royalty assumption, and subsidize the
purchase of patented technology in a bid to deter users
from actually invoking safeguard measures.
 As a result, insured patents would be guaranteed, while
assuring unimpeded access to technologies.
Monetary flow throughout the Green IP scheme.
Disbursement
Mandatory Premium
for
All Patents
WIPO
Core Plan
for
Green R&Ds
PI Trust Fund
Voluntary Premium
for
Valuable Patents
Fund Generation
International Bank
for
Intellectual Property
(IBIP)
Extended Plan
for
Safeguard Measures
in Green Techs
Win-Win?
 The PI scheme would circumvent undermining of the
patent regime and frequent issuing of safeguard measures.
 At the same time, it would facilitate unimpeded access to
technologies and increased incentives for neglected needs
and genuine innovations.
 These mutual benefits for patentees as well as users
would convince patent applicants/owners to readily
accept the financial burden of contributing to the PI
scheme.
 The scheme would create a substantial financial source
for green R&Ds.
 The potential scale of the PI trust fund has been
estimated to potentially reach several tens of billions of
US dollars annually, which would substantially accelerate
the progress of various green technologies, typically
including not only essential medicines, such as AIDS/HIV
drugs, but also ecological technologies, e.g., solar power
generation.
Global financial resources (potential scale)
for the Patent Insurance Trust Fund (US dollars).
Source
Mandatory premium
Voluntary premium
Ratio for PI
3% of the total cost to
obtain a patent right
1% of the patent
market
Potential
revenue
$240 million
$50 billion
Make a Difference Together !
Call for Collaborations !
Itaru Nitta
Green Intellectual Property Project
[email protected]