Skip to main content
PRINT EDITION

Fast-Tracks and Prizes: A Multi-Pronged Approach to Incentivizing Green Technology Innovation

Abstract: Faced with the ever-worsening climate crisis, many nations—including the United States—have increasingly recognized the urgent need for rapid advancements in green, clean, and sustainable technologies. Patents play a fundamental role in incentivizing technological innovation, but the traditional patent process is too slow to match the urgency of the climate crisis. At the same time, the marketplace significantly undervalues green technology patents because they confer benefits to third parties not involved in the transaction (referred to as “positive externalities”). To address the urgency issue, patent “fast-track” programs have been implemented to speed up the patent application review process. To mitigate the positive externality issue, scholars have suggested patent prize systems may compensate for market failure. This Comment analyzes the green technology fast-track programs in the United States and proposes a method of combining the patent system with an “inventor’s choice” prize system to leverage the advantages of both systems to drive green technology innovation.

Download the Full Article

Other Articles from WLR Print Edition

June 1, 2023 in PRINT EDITION

In the Room Where It Happens: How Federal Appropriations Law Can Enforce Tribal Consultation Policies and Protect Native Subsistence Rights in Alaska

Abstract: Federal-tribal consultation is one of the only mechanisms available to American Indian and Alaska Native communities to provide input on federal management decisions impacting their subsistence lands and resources.…
Read More
June 1, 2023 in PRINT EDITION

Creating and Maintaining Consistent Standards Regarding the Role of Parental Substance Abuse at Shelter Care Hearings in Washington State

Abstract: When Child Protective Services (CPS) removes children from their home in Washington State, the State must hold a shelter care hearing within seventy-two hours to determine where the children…
Read More
June 1, 2023 in PRINT EDITION

Per Curiam Signals in the Supreme Court’s Shadow Docket

Abstract: Lower courts and litigants depend a great deal on the Supreme Court to articulate and communicate signals regarding how to interpret existing doctrine. Signals are at their strongest and…
Read More