Patent Law and Environmental Sustainability : The Challenge of Green Innovation

This thesis is part of the studies on the relationship between private law and the environment. In particular, it aims to analyze how patent collaborations – such as patent pools, cross licensing agreements, patent commons and potent pledges – limit patent exclusivity, creating contractual claims. Patent exclusivity potentially hinders the global adoption of crucial green technologies by limiting access through high licensing fees or market lock-in due to large corporations. However, patent collaborations are increasingly frequent as a result of the complexity of green patents, revealing new scenarios. The thesis consists of two parts. The first part is a critical reflection on the transformation of private law and patent law in the face of environmental emergencies. The second part has an application value, taking as reference the models of the United States and Germany. Specifically, the thesis evaluates how private law in these two legal systems disciplines some critical phenomena in patent collaborations. In this way, the thesis intends to demonstrate how private law has specific consequences on the enforcement of patent collaborations and therefore on the possibility that the latter concretely promotes innovation.