On February 10, 2009, Creative Commons in collaboration with Nike and Best Buy
have announced the new project named GreenXchange. The project allows to
explore how the digital
commons can help holders of patents collaborate for sustainability.
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 The Eco-Patent Commons, launched in January 2008 by IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes and Sony in partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), has been founded on the commitment that anyone who wants to bring
environmental benefits to market can use these patents to protect the
environment and enable collaboration between businesses that foster new
innovations. The objectives of the Eco-Patent Commons are:
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To provide an avenue by which innovations and solutions may be easily
shared to accelerate and facilitate implementation to protect the
environment and perhaps lead to further innovation;
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To promote and encourage cooperation and collaboration between
businesses that pledge patents and potential users to foster further
joint innovations with the advancement and development of solutions that
benefit the environment.
Since the launch of the Eco-Patent Commons (EPC), more than one hundred
eco-friendly patents have been pledged by thirteen companies
representing the variety of industries from arond the world: Bosch, Dow, DuPont,
Fuji-Xerox, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Nokia, Pitney Bowes, Ricoh, Sony, Taisei and Xerox (download the EPC all pledged patents).
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 Patents may have been created to help encourage innovation, but instead they regularly hinder it. The US Patent Office, overwhelmed and underfunded, issues questionable patents every day. "Patent trolls” buy too many of these patents and then misuse the patent system to shake down companies big and small. Others still use patents to limit competition and impede an access to new knowledge, tools or other innovations.
Read full text here.
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