The CEPGI tracks the granting of patents in the Clean Energy sector and monitors important technological breakthroughs in this field.  Victor Cardona, Co-chair of the firm’s Cleantech Group  stated, “we are pleased to announce that results for the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index indicate that Clean Energy Patents hit a record high in 2010, up over 700 patents relative to  2009.  GM took the yearly Clean Energy Patent Crown from Honda  in 2010 while U.S. patent owners hold more U.S. patents than any other country.  Also, solar patents passed wind patents in 2010 while fuel cells continued to lead.”

The Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) provides an indication of the trend of innovative activity in the Clean Energy sector since 2002 in the U.S., along with Leading Patent Owners and Leading Country and State information.  Results through the fourth quarter of 2010 reveal the CEPGI for 2010 to be at its highest level ever at 1181 granted patents, up over 170 percent, as depicted below. This is the largest year to year jump since we began tracking clean energy patents by over three times the previous year to year difference.  This compares to a 31 percent increase generally for all patents from 2009 to 2010 - which was the best showing ever for patents generally.  Clean energy innovation is clearly far outpacing technology in general.

As depicted in the below breakdown of the CEPGI by its sub-components, patents in fuel cells and wind were each up over fifty seven percent over 2009. Solar patents were up an astounding 134 percent while hybrid/electric vehicles were up sixty percent. Tidal energy and biomass/biofuel energy patents were up twenty eight and forty one percent, respectively, at fourteen patents each. Hydroelectric patents were up sixteen patents, an over five hundred percent increase. Geothermal patents was the only sector that decreased at five less patents than 2009, a fifty percent decrease. All of the technology sectors, except geothermal, were at all time highs in 2010, surpassing all previous records.     

GM took the annual clean energy patent crown from last year's winner Honda. Samsung jumped to second place, largely on the strength of its fuel cell patents, overtaking Honda and Toyota relative to 2009.  Toyota increased its annual total by 20 patents to get fourth place while GE increased by thirty to place in fifth. Nissan (6th), Ford (8th) and Hyundai (9th) rounded out the automobile competitors for 2010. GE placed fifth predominantly on the strength of its wind patents which was over twice the number of patents of its nearest wind patent competitor in 2010, Vestas Wind Systems. Panasonic came in 7th in 2010 to tie its 2009 showing on the strength of its fuel cell patents and exceeded the 29 patents from 2009 by five patents, after having had only 6 in all the prior years.  Hitachi rounded out the top 10 with 23 patents which were predominantly in the fuel cell and wind areas. Canon, far and away the solar photovoltaic patent leader since 2002, missed the top ten with a 12th place showing in 2010 at 15 patents.

Geographically, US patent owners held far more US clean energy patents than any other individual country in 2010.  Japan, Korea and the US appear to be on an upward trajectory with the US taking a huge leap in 2010 after being on a slight uptrend from the time tracking began until 2009. South Korea surpassed Canada in 2008 and Germany in 2010. Germany trends slightly upwardly while the others are holding steady and the number of Canadian clean energy patents slightly decreasing. Looking at 2010 in more detail, Denmark (33) and France (29) fall between Canada (24) and Taiwan (40). China made a showing at 15 clean energy patents which far surpassed its previous high of 6 in 2009. Great Britain followed with 13 patents while Israel and Switzerland had nine clean energy patents in 2010.

Looking at the U.S. data in more detail, California overtook Michigan as the leading US state for clean energy patents in 2010 despite huge increases from both states of over 90 patents each. New York also had a big jump of 40 patents over the prior year. Smaller increases were found for Illinois, Connecticut and Texas while Massachusetts declined by two patents. Connecticut and Massachusetts tied at 30 in 2010 while Ohio (25) and Pennsylvania (tying Texas at 24) weren’t far behind.   Florida at 23 rounded out the states having over 20 clean energy patents in 2010.  Others had big increases including Oregon up 10, Virginia up 13, Delaware up 12, and New Mexico up 14.  

Further information regarding the CEPGI is available at www.cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com.  Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. is dedicated exclusively to representing clients in the protection and commercialization of intellectual property, both domestic and foreign, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. The firm has gained national recognition in the area of Intellectual Property Law and was listed among the “Top Patent Firms” and “Top Trademark Firms” in Intellectual Property Law Today.  Email inquiries at vac@hrfmlaw.com.