Protect Your Cleantech - IP May Play A Role In Determining Who Leads The Pack

With Vancouver named one of the top 10, "New Silicon Valleys" of the clean tech industry, worldwide that is, the role of innovation and the associated pitfalls is on my mind these days. Burnaby based, Ballard Power Systems may be said to have pioneered the fuel cell industry and ex employees are busily creating new companies and uses for the technology.

In the midst of all of this activity certain essential tasks associated with successful innovation can be overlooked. In any rapidly evolving industry, inevitably innovation will overlap and application of existing technologies will tend to be "discovered" by several, if not many different companies. So, it is in cleantech.

That activity that will play such an important role in the ultimate success of a clean technology product turns out to be protection of intellectual capital.

I've written before about the importance of intellectual property protection. A post Mass High Tech.com, Energy, Clean Tech and IP: Protecting Innovation, speaks specifically to the challenges firms in the cleantech industry face.

While an important component to any technology-based company's success, intellectual property is especially important for "clean tech" ventures encompassing energy or environmentally related technologies.

For clean tech companies, it's important to note that investors consider strong IP essential for both first to market companies and those that follow (to protect a key technology for later market entry or licensing/acquisition.)

Cleantech is, of course, an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of technologies and spans a variety of different industries. The rationale for application of intellectual property protection therefore varies by industry. Does it promote investor confidence? Is it important as a defensive strategy? Can it be used to encourage licensing down the road?

Clearly, whether or not the reason is immediately obvious, innovators in the space need to take steps early on to protect technological innovation and continue to revisit the applicability of those technologies as the company grows and the discovers new uses for existing patented processes.

Similarly, don't dismiss patent protection for clean tech ventures with a long time-frame to market or long technology lifespan. Strategic patent filing approaches may be available in some jurisdictions, increasing patent enforcement life, for example, until the effort reaches a certain state of commercial viability. It's also possible to file initial applications relating to core aspects of the technology, then stagger subsequent filings for incremental changes.

Like the early days of the dotcom boom, intellectual property protection will play a big role in who turns out to be the winners and the losers in cleantech. Those companies which use forethought and innovative thinking, in every aspect of their business, including legal protection, will be much better positioned to be on the winning end. As new uses for the current technology, as well as, new applications for technologies currently in development arise, appropriate intellectual property protection will be key.

I know I sound like an advertisement for the legal profession, but in an industry highly dependent on break through innovation, the appropriate IP may be the deciding point between leadership and second place.