Clean Energy Patent Growth Index

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX 3rd Quarter 2008

            The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C, provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector.  Results from the third quarter of 2008 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 230 granted U.S. patents which is up thirteen from the second quarter of 2008 and up from a value of 211 in the third quarter of 2007.  (Click for a downloadable version of this post.)

 

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The components breakdown of the CEPGI continues to show fuel cells dominating the other components in absolute numbers.  A downward trend for fuel cells was reversed with an increase of 38 issued fuel cell patents relative to the second quarter, returning to a level (152) last seen in 2006.  Granted wind (32) and solar patents (13) both fell compared to the second quarter while hybrid/electric vehicle patents (25) reversed a long decline.  Also, tidal/wave energy granted patents (4) reversed a three-month upward trend.   

GM led clean energy patent owners with 17 taking the lead from GE, the leader in the second quarter, based a surge in fuel cell patents with an assist from hybrid/electric vehicle patents. GE was tied with Honda at 12.  GE’s patents (9 of 12) were overwhelmingly wind power related while Honda’s granted patents (9 of 12) like GM were predominantly fuel cell related.  Toyota with 7 patents followed the leaders based primarily (6 of 7) on its fuel cell patents and Ford was tied with Toyota due to a unified showing of hybrid/electric patents.  Matsushita Electric also tied Toyota and Ford based on a fuel cell only showing.  Hewlett-Packard entered the top ten with 5 fuel cell patents.  Rounding out the top ten were more fuel cell patents issued to Plug Power, UTC Power and Delphi Technologies.  

As depicted in the graphs below, Japan with 57 granted patents (down 8 from the second quarter) continued to lead the U.S. states and other countries which have historically contended for the geographical clean energy patent crown.  As is evident from the graphs, Michigan was up sharply with 29 (versus 13 in the second quarter) followed by New York at 21, up 1.  Germany had seventeen issued clean energy patents equal to the second quarter and California was down 5 at 15.  Canada rounded out the field at 5, down 1. 

Coming soon, the 2008 wrap up edition of the CEPGI will provide year end totals along with  more detailed geographic and patent owner information.

 

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Trend lines by quarter through the second quarter of 2008 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted below:

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CEPGI yearly totals through 2007 are depicted below:

  

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Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2008 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.    

   

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX 2nd Quarter 2008

   

The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C, provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector.  Results from the second quarter of 2008 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 217 granted U.S. patents which is down three from the first quarter of 2008 and down from a value of 228 in the second quarter of 2007.  (Click here for a downloadable version of this post.)

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The components breakdown of the CEPGI continue to show fuel cells dominating the other components in absolute numbers, but a downward trend for fuel cell patents begun in the fourth quarter of 2006 continued, falling by 10 relative to the first quarter.  Granted wind and solar patents headed along opposite trajectories for the last two quarters with wind ascending (48) and solar (21) descending.    Hybrid/electric vehicle patents (14) continued their downward trend begun in early 2007.  Tidal/wave energy granted patents continued an upward trend since the third quarter of 2007 with 10, up 1 relative to the first quarter.   

GE overtook Honda for the gold medal (in this Olympic month) in the patent chase for the most new granted clean energy patents in the second quarter with 17 followed by Honda with 13.  GE’s patents (12 of 17) were overwhelmingly wind power related while Honda’s (12 of 13) were predominantly fuel cell related.  General Motors grabbed bronze with 11 on the strength of its fuel cell patents.  Aloys Wobben, who is the head of Enercon GmbH, a German wind turbine company, holds fourth place with 8.  Automotive companies continued their strong showing with Nissan (7) and Toyota (6) in the fifth and sixth spots on the strength of their fuel cell efforts.  Samsung (5) placed 7^th while Toshiba (4) and Matsushita Electric (4) tied, all of which were related to fuel cells.  Individual inventor Dennis Fernandez rounded out the top 10 with three fuel cell related patents.       

As depicted in the graphs below, Japan continued to lead the U.S. states and other countries that have historically contended for the geographical clean energy patent crown.  As is evident from the graphs, Japan, New York and California had an increase in the number of clean energy patents relative to the first quarter.  Germany held steady while Michigan, Connecticut, and Canada dropped. 

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Trend lines by quarter through the second quarter of 2008 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted below:

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CEPGI yearly totals through 2007 are depicted below:

 

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Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI. 

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2008 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.    

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX 1st Quarter 2008

The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C, provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector.  Results from the first quarter of 2008 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 220 granted U.S. patents which is down from a value of 227 in the fourth quarter of 2007 and down from a value of 228 in the first quarter of 2007. (Please click on the charts below for larger versions)

 
The long term trend for the components of the CEPGI show Fuel Cells continuing to dominate the other components, but are down relative to the last quarter and one year earlier.  Granted wind patents continue to trend upwardly after a third quarter drop.  Hybrid/electric vehicle patents continue their downward trend begun in early 2007.  Also, solar energy patents dipped relative to the last quarter and trend downwardly.

Tidal/wave energy granted patents reached a high last seen in 2004 while geothermal patents reached a new high.

Honda had the most new granted clean energy patents (16) in the first quarter followed by a second place tie between General Electric (11) and General Motors (11).   Also, automotive companies dominate the top ten with Nissan, Toyota,  and Hyundai in the fourth, fifth, and sixth spots, and with Ford in the tenth.

An analysis was also performed of several of the U.S. states and countries with the largest number of clean energy patents historically.  Graphs depicting the trend of patents in these states and countries are depicted below.  As is evident from the charts, Japan continued to lead the other contenders in the first quarter but dropped slightly from the fourth quarter.  Michigan, California, Connecticut and Germany also dropped slightly while New York and Canada had more issued patents than in the fourth quarter.

 

 

   

Trend lines by quarter through the first quarter of 2008 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted below:

 

            
CEPGI yearly totals through 2007 are depicted below:

Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.

Click here to download a copy of this post: cepgi_1st_quarter_2008_downloadable.doc

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2008 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.    

   

The Greening of Patent Litigation

Issued patents are one indicator of innovation in clean energy technology, and recent litigation in this sector indicates the technology is becoming financially viable to justify patent enforcement.  Several cases filed in the federal courts reveals the increasing importance of clean energy patents.

A significant case involving one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers in the world, Enercon, emerged ten years ago.  In Enercon v. ITC, the ITC excluded Enercon’s variable speed wind turbines from entering the US after Kenetech Windpower filed a complaint alleging that Enercon’s wind turbines infringed its patents for controlling AC power output.  The Federal Circuit affirmed the ITC’s decision, prohibiting Enercon from importing its wind turbines into the US until 2010.  In Southwest Windpower v. Aeromax, Southwest, a manufacturer of small wind turbines, claimed that Aeromax’s wind turbines infringed its patent.  An Arizona court issued an injunction prohibiting sales of Aeromax’s wind turbine.  In Gamesa Eolica, v. General Electric, Gamesa claimed that GE infringed its patent directed to a speed wind turbine that converts variable frequency AC to fixed frequency AC and maneuvers turbine speed to increase efficiency.  A Wisconsin court found no infringement in favor of GE.

In Paice v. Toyota, Paice claimed that Toyota’s hybrid vehicles included a drive train similar to one covered by its patents.  A Texas court held that Toyota infringed Paice’s patent, but denied an injunction and allowed Toyota to continue selling its hybrid cars for a royalty payment of $25 for each car sold during the life of the patent.  The case was affirmed on appeal.  In Ovonic v. Matsushita, in Michigan, Ovonic claimed Matsushita’s hybrid electric vehicles infringed its patents covering nickel metal hydride batteries.  The parties ultimately entered into a settlement agreement that included a cross-license and a combined license fee of $30 million.  In Maxwell Technologies v. NessCap, a California case, Maxwell, a manufacturer of ultracapacitors for hybrid cars and renewable energy sources, filed a complaint against Nesscap, a Korean competitor, to enforce its patents related to electric double layer capacitors.  The court entered a preliminary injunction enjoining NessCap from selling its prismatic ultracapacitor products.  Then, in January 2007, Nesscap filed its own suit against Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell’s ultracapacitors infringe a NessCap patent.  Both cases remain pending.

Other pending cases include, ReliOn, Inc. v. Hydra Fuel Cell, in which ReliOn claims Hydra infringed its patent directed to fuel cell power systems, and Quantum Catalytics v. Ze-gen, in which Quantum alleges its waste service competitors infringe numerous patents directed to gasification methods for creating compounds from waste, such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide, that can be used to generate electricity.

The existence of clean energy patent cases throughout the country is evidence of the substantial value of these patents and, if the market for clean energy continues to grow, the number of patent cases is likely to increase as more patents are granted.

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2008 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX 4th quarter 2007

The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI), published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C, provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector. Results from the fourth quarter of 2007 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 227 granted U.S. patents which is up from the third quarter of 2007 and down from the fourth quarter of 2006. As depicted below, the CEPGI total for 2007 was down relative to 2006 and up over the five year period (click on graph for larger version):

Solar and wind patents both trended upwardly in third and fourth quarters as depicted below:

The five year trends for the components of the CEPGI show Fuel Cells dominating and wind increasing.  Granted Solar and hybrid vehicle patents have decreased and reached a plateau of sorts as depicted below:

We have added patent owner information as listed on the granted patents and geographic information based on the information listed on the patents. The Leading Clean Energy patent owners for over the last five years (2002-2007) include Honda, General Motors, United Technologies, Ballard, Toyota and Ford as depicted:

If automotive companies are excluded, the top 10 is dominated by fuel cell companies such as Plug Power, Ballard and UTC, and is rounded out by Canon and GE.

Top patent owners in the Solar energy area include Canon, Sharp, Boeing, and Kanegafuchi Chemical Industries.

Aloys Wobben of Enercon GmbH tops the wind list followed by GE while Honda, GM, Ballard, United Technologies, and Plug Power lead in fuel cells. Hybrid/electric vehicles are dominated by Honda and Ford with Toyota, GM and Nissan trailing.

Geographically, U.S. patent owners and inventors tie the rest of the world in the number of US patents in the Clean Energy field over the period 2002-2007 with fifty percent of the granted U.S. patents.  Patent applicants from Japan (29 percent) and Germany (8 percent) were issued the second and third largest number of U.S. patents.

The U.S. states with the largest number of U.S. patent owners and inventors were Michigan (13 percent), California (7 percent), New York (6 percent) and Connecticut (4 percent).

The U.S. (46 percent), Germany (20 percent), Denmark (8 percent) and Japan (6 percent) were tops in the world in wind with New York (13 percent), California (9 percent) and Texas (3 percent) leading the U.S.

The U.S. (44 percent), Japan (35 percent) and Germany (6 percent) lead in Solar energy patents over the period from 2002-2007. California (14 percent) leads the U.S. in Solar energy patents followed by a second tier of Illinois (4 percent) New York(3 percent), Massachusetts (3 percent) and New Jersey (2 percent).

The U.S. (53 percent), Japan (28 percent) and Germany (8 percent) again were the top patent grantees in Fuel Cell technology while Michigan with 15 percent dominated the U.S. rankings followed by New York and Connecticut with 7 percent and California with 5 percent of the total patents granted to U.S. patentees.

Although not depicted, Biomass/Biofuel patents were distributed over ninety one owners for the five year period from 2002-2007 with the Research Foundation of the State of New York having the most granted patents at five followed by Manufacturing and Technology Conversion International, Inc. at three. Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. had the most patents (8) in the tidal/wave energy technology area. Kalex, LLC had the largest number of geothermal patents at eight. Herbert L. Williams had three patents in the hydroelectric area while the following had two: Aloys Wobben, Kabushiki Kaisha Sankyo Seiki Seisakusho, New World Generation Inc., and Hydro Resource Solution LLC.

Trend lines by quarter through the fourth quarter of 2007 for the CEPGI and for each of the CEPGI components are depicted below:

Please contact us at info@cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com if you have any questions or would like us to email you when we have updated this page or the CEPGI.

CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX.COM

Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

© 2008 Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.

The Growth of “Green” Trademarks

The term GREEN suddenly seems to be everywhere, and yet a precise definition of what constitutes a GREEN product or service is not easily found.  In the 1970s, political groups used GREEN primarily as a symbol of environmental protection and social justice, i.e. the “Green Movement.”  Today, the meaning of GREEN is expanding and used in connection with a variety of products and services in the marketplace.

The Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) of Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. tracks the granting of patents by the United States Patent and Trademark (USPTO) in the clean energy sector.  As of the third quarter of 2007, the CEPGI indicated a generally upward trend in clean technology patents over the last five years.  In another area of intellectual property, the growth of GREEN trademarks can provide us with further insight into the cleantech marketplace.

“Green Energy” is considered energy that is renewable, more efficient or environmentally friendly.  “Green Power” is electricity supplied in whole or in part from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and various forms of biomass.  In the U.S., however, there currently are no agreed-upon industry standards or restrictions regarding what GREEN actually means in connection with energy and energy technologies.  Unlike the word ORGANIC, which has been regulated by the National Organic Standards Board since 2002, there are no guidelines regarding who can claim to be GREEN.

However, there is a general idea in the marketplace regarding what GREEN should mean, and its use is surely indicative of current trends in the economy.   A trademark search on the USPTO website for trademark applications filed, by year, that incorporate GREEN in connection with energy related goods/services is telling.  These filings were compared with a search for CLEAN and RENEWABLE in connection with similar goods/services. 

As seen below, while trademark applications for CLEAN and RENEWABLE slightly increased over the past five years, a distinct spike was seen in applications incorporating GREEN.  Specifically, GREEN applications were 3.5 times greater in 2007 than in 2006, and increased ten fold since 2004.  The total number of applications since 1990 incorporating GREEN in connection with energy related goods/services exceeds the combined filings for CLEAN and RENEWABLE. 

 

Whether the substantial spike in the occurrence of GREEN as a trademark can manage to sustain itself in the marketplace remains to be seen.  However, if it is any indication, USPTO trademark filings that include ORGANIC have yet to slow down despite the newly imposed standards.

Although not as sophisticated as the CEPGI, the above analysis furthers the conclusion that, in the face of an increasing concern over energy costs, resource shortages, and global environmental concerns, not only are technological innovations occurring in the clean technology sector, but financial investments, business ventures, and marketing efforts are being made as well. 

cleantechintellectualproperty.com

Clean Energy Patent Growth Index Ed. 1

Presented by:  ^THE CLEANTECH GROUP

December 14, 2007

The CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX (CEPGI) is published quarterly by the Cleantech Group at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.  The CEPGI provides a relative indication of the effort (e.g., Research & Development) put into, and success of, Clean Energy innovation. 

The CEPGI tracks the granting of U.S. patents via the following sub-components which together make up the CEPGI:

Solar

Wind

Hybrid/electric vehicles

Fuel Cells

Hydroelectric

Tidal/wave

Geothermal

Biomass/biofuels

Other clean renewable energy

        

The granting of patents by the United States Patent and Trademark (PTO) is an often cited measure of the outcome of inventive activity and the resources invested in developing innovations, such as research & development funding.  The successful granting of a patent requires that efforts be made by inventors to develop innovations and by patent counsel to shepherd a patent application through the PTO.  A patent thus is an indicator that efforts at innovation have been successful and that an innovation had enough perceived value to justify the time and expense in procuring the patent.

The Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity for the last five years in the U.S., along with quarterly results.  The value for the CEPGI for the third quarter of 2007 is 211 which is down slightly from 228 in the second quarter.  From 2002 through the second quarter of 2007, the number of clean energy patents has ranged from a low of 105 in the first quarter of 2002 to a high in early 2005 of 254.  A generally upward trend for the entire period was also found as depicted below

   

As indicated in the quarterly composite graph of the CEPGI components depicted below, fuel cell innovations provide the largest absolute number of clean energy patents and drive the CEPGI trends to a degree.  Solar and wind energy along with hybrid/electric vehicles provide the other significant part of the CEPGI with the remaining components contributing to a lesser degree. 

Wind energy innovation is on an upward trend while solar energy innovation appears to be heading in the opposite direction. 

The patents included in the CEPGI and its sub-components have been vetted by the Cleantech Group  at Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C.  to ensure that each patent is properly included in the appropriate sub-component and that the technology disclosed therein relates to the generation of energy for consumption by a device other than itself.

  The CEPGI itself is a cumulation of the sub-components and has been corrected to avoid the duplicate inclusion of any patents when a patent relates to more than one clean energy technology (i.e., a patent is included in more than one sub-component)