(412f) Using Intellectual Property to Protect Carbon Capture Innovations

1 Global CCS Institute, The Global Status of CCS 2016, at 5, 11-12 (2016).

2 Id. at 11.

3 See Global CCS Institute, The Global Status of CCS 2014, at 113-14 (2014) (“Academia is the primary source of publications in general, but corporations are the driving force for patent applications in the area of carbon capture.”); see also ExxonMobil and FuelCell Energy progressing one-of-a-kind carbon capture fuel cell solution, Energy Factor, https://energyfactor.exxonmobil.com/news/fuel-cell-site/ (Oct. 28, 2016) (“FuelCell Energy and ExxonMobil have announced the site of a pilot plant to test a novel research concept that uses fuel cell technology to capture carbon dioxide. This new technology has the potential to substantially reduce costs and lead to a more economical pathway toward large-scale application globally.”); Suzanne McCarron, Focus on Technology: Finding a way to capture carbon, Energy Factor (Mar. 7, 2016), https://energyfactor.exxonmobil.com/perspectives/focus-technology-findin... (“The corporation has a working interest in more than one-third of the world’s existing carbon-capture-and-storage capacity. Last year alone, we captured more than 6 million metric tons of CO₂ for storage. . . . In addition to our in-house programs, we have also supported carbon-capture-and-storage research efforts with leading universities such as Georgia Tech, MIT, Stanford, and the University of Texas. That’s in addition to technical partnerships we have participated in with the U.S. Department of Energy and the European Commission to evaluate a range of carbon injection and storage technologies.”). But see Shell, Shell’s Quest Carbon Capture and Storage Project reaches significant milestone, Global CCS Institute (Oct. 4, 2016) https://www.globalccsinstitute.com/news/institute-updates/shell%E2%80%99... (“From the outset, any intellectual property or data generated by Quest has been publicly available, in collaboration with the governments of Alberta and Canada to help bring down future costs of CCS and encourage wider use of the technology around the world. This means that others can take the detailed engineering plans, valued at C$100 million, to help build future CCS facilities.”)