We already knew the Eco-patent Commons- the website launched by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) that elicits donations of and aggregates patented cleantech technology for royalty free use- was awesome. But it can be improved to be even more effective by including invention disclosures.

The Eco-patent commons, essentially open source cleantech patents, have the support of major industry players such as IBM, Nokia, Pitney-Bowes and Sony. There are two problems, however, both relating to the patenting process. First, it is expensive. Second, it is long. Sometimes companies choose not to patent inventions in order to avoid the costs of doing so, and by the time a technology is patented, it can be years old. As a result, the Eco-Commons miss out on technologies and get patents that are outdated by the time they are made available.

Nancy Edwards-Cronin, of IP Capital Group in Vermont, argues that the Eco-patent Commons should include Invention Disclosures, which are written explanations of inventions that provide enough specificity to protect the inventor and their product, but also allow other users to understand what it does. In this way, the Eco-patent Commons could maximize their utility by both allowing companies to do good as well as benefiting from cutting edge inventions that are not yet patented.

Read more here.