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HP Issues Green Patents to the Commons Initiative
Article Date: Monday 5th July 2010
Yesterday HP released some of its intellectual property for the good of the general public, by submitting three green patents to the Eco-Patent Commons.
The Commons is an eco-initiative managed by the World Business Council on Sustainable Development to encourage firms to share any innovations that have environmental benefits.
HP have added the following three patents: A self-contained battery recycling station that will allow users to exchange their old batteries for new ones or credit, a monitoring system that will reduce the energy consumption associated with bad welds on assembly lines; and a process that eliminates the need for anti-oxidant metal coatings (such as gold) during some stages of microchip and circuit board assembly.
Björn Stigson, president of the WBCSD, has today released a statement saying, "we are very pleased that HP has joined this initiative and made multiple patents available. The premise of the Commons is that the free sharing of these patents leads to new collaborations and innovation aimed at helping others become more eco-efficient and/or operate in a more sustainable way."
The Commons were launched in January 2008 and since then have received green patents from a variety of large blue chip technology companies including IBM, Nokia, Xerox and Fuji amongst others.
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