Maria Luisa Aranda SalesThe Role of Intellectual Property for Clean Technology Innovation in the Context of EU Environmental Policies

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This book revises the role of IP law, in the context of EU environmental protection, with a view to promote clean energy technologies. Specifically, the project carries out three main lines of analysis. First, from the perspective of EU primary law, it analyses the implications, if any, of the principle of environmental integration for IP law (particularly, patent law). Second, it examines the role that IP law § on its own and in combination with other elements § may play in encouraging clean technology (CT) innovation to meet the EU environmental goals. Lastly, given that the solution to climate change may not reside merely in IP, and, based on a holistic approach to CT innovation, this thesis addresses in greater detail one collaborative IP structure that has not yet been explored in depth as a practical solution. That is, the model of Public-Private Partnership implemented by the Commission to promote CT innovation, in which the allocation of IPRs in the governing legal framework demands a closer study. Both prior research lines converge on this one; on the one hand, the Commission action affords a specific response to the legal duty stemming from the environmental integration principle; and on the other, it is a collaborative approach between the private and public sectors where IPRs and their allocation are of utmost relevance.