Geographical Indication (GI) options for Ethiopian Coffee and Ghanaian Cocoa

Reflections on the Lack of Biofuel Innovation in Egypt
But while the company acknowledged the importance of jojoba as a source of
biofuels, its existing focus is on cosmetic and medical applications, and it has even
obtained two patents, from Egypt’s Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office, for the medicinal applications of
jojoba (see El Mogy, 2010).
5. The way forward
Our research found little in the way of biofuels innovation in Egypt. This prompted
us to cast our minds towards the future and to try to identify steps that could be
taken to potentially boost innovation.
Fast-tracking
We found persuasive the ideas of Derclaye (2010), who has suggested that patent
systems as tools for technological development and economic growth can benefit
from “green” inventions receiving, among other things, fast-tracked examination,
reduced application fees and exemption from deferred examination. Of particular
interest is the idea of fast-tracking. The adoption of a fast-track administrative
procedure in Egypt could help to encourage innovation in clean energy technology,
including biofuels. A faster administrative process would allow clean energy
innovations to receive patent protection more quickly and therefore to reach the
market earlier. Ideally, faster procedures could encourage Egyptian innovators to
invest local resources in developing new technologies and to provide those technologies
to the marketplace.
Internationally, several major patent offices have instituted a fast-track
mechanism for clean technology innovation. The UK Intellectual Property
Office has introduced an initiative to give priority to patent applications
directed to technology having environmental benefits. Instead of the typical
average of two to three years for an application to get through the UK
Intellectual Property Office, a patent application for a clean technology can
be granted in just nine months. According to the Office, “[t]here is no specific
environmental standard to meet in order to benefit from the Green Channel”
(UK Intellectual Property Office, 2009): the applicant simply needs to provide
as much justification as is necessary to explain why the invention is environmentally
friendly.
The USPTO introduced a system in 2009 to process clean technology patent
applications more quickly (USPTO, 2012). The Australian and South Korean
patent offices have also launched similar schemes (IP Australia, 2012; Korean
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