From: "Rebecca Van Nichols" <rvan@tnag.net>
Date: Jul 31, 2014 6:15 PM
Subject: SOLAR PATENTS LEAD OTHERS FOR 4TH STRAIGHT QUARTER
To: <mbannerman@arcstarenergy.com>
Cc:
SOLAR PATENTS LEAD OTHERS FOR 4TH STRAIGHT QUARTER
Clean Energy Patent Growth Index 1st Quarter 2014.
Victor Cardona, HESLIN ROTHENBERG FARLEY & MESITI P.C.
July 30, 2014
PrintAlbany, NY Solar patents led Fuel Cell patents for the fourth straight quarter as the upward trajectory of Solar continued and the downward trajectory of longtime leader Fuel Cells appeared not to be an aberration. GM and Toyota continued their quarterly seesawing with GM taking the quarterly Clean Energy patent Crown back from Toyota. The US led all countries in granted US clean energy patetns. Of countries and US states, Japan led California followed by Korea, Germany, Michigan, New York, and Taiwan.
HESLIN ROTHENBERG FARLEY & MESITI P.C. ANNOUNCES
CLEAN ENERGY PATENT GROWTH INDEX
RESULTS FOR 1st QUARTER 2014
GM TAKES QUARTERLY CROWN Back FROM TOYOTA
SOLAR LEADS OTHERS FOR 4th STRAIGHT QUARTER
US Leads-JAPAN Tops Others
CALIFORNIA LEADS STATES-MICHIGAN AND NEW YORK FOLLOW
ALBANY, NY—Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti P.C. is pleased to announce results for the first quarter of 2014 for the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI) by the firm's Cleantech Group.
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, "Solar patents led Fuel Cell patents for the fourth straight quarter as the upward trajectory of Solar continued and the downward trajectory of longtime leader Fuel Cells appeared not to be an aberration. GM and Toyota continued their quarterly seesawing with GM taking the quarterly Clean Energy patent Crown back from Toyota. The US led all countries in granted US clean energy patetns. Of countries and US states, Japan led California followed by Korea, Germany, Michigan, New York, and Taiwan-."
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 from the first quarter of 2014 reveal the CEPGI to have a value of 690 granted U.S. patents which is 225 lower than the fourth quarter of 2013 (which was the highest quarterly total on record) and 48 lower than one year prior. GM was granted the highest number of Clean Energy patents for the first quarter, taking the quarterly crown back from Toyota, leader for the fourth quarter of 2013, after GM won the annual crown for 2013. Solar patents again led the other technology sectors in the first quarter for the fourth quarter in a row - topping Fuel Cell patents by about ninety patents with Fuel Cells having dropped over 100 from the previous quarter. Quarterly results are illustrated below:
Solar patents (251) fell 21 from the fourth quarter after having jumped over 50 patents from the third quarter of 2013 to a record total in the fourth quarter. Despite this drop, Solar patents were still at the second highest level ever in the first quarter of this year and were up 34 over the year prior. Fuel Cells (162) trailed Solar patents but led Wind patents (123) by about 40 patents and the remaining sectors by even more. Fuel Cells fell 56 and Wind patents dropped 32 compared to the first quarter of 2013.
Hybrid-Electric Vehicle patents (79) trailed Wind patents by over 40 and fell 47 compared to the previous quarter and dropped two patents relative to the same quarter a year before. Tidal patents dropped 6 to arrive at 20 patents in the first quarter and were up one patent as compared to a year before. Biofuel/Biomass patents (52) also dropped relative to the fourth quarter of 2013 arriving at four more than the first quarter of last year. Geothermal patents (six) were up two and Hydroelectric patents down five compared to the fourth quarter with both down two compared to the same quarter a year prior.
Seesawing back and forth, GM (27) and Toyota (26) were again at the top of the quarterly Clean Energy patent owner rankings with little daylight between them - GM having retaken the quarterly crown from Toyota. GM also led Toyota by one patent in Fuel Cell patents, 18 to 17, in Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patents, 9 to 8, while each surprisingly had one patent in the Solar sector. Little space also existed between Toyota and Samsung which again took the third spot with 25 Clean Energy patents propelled by Fuel Cell (13) and Solar (11) patents also supplemented by a patent in Hybrid/Electric Vehicles.
Honda (18) led, and Hyundai (14) trailed, Vestas by two to round out the auto company contributions. Honda (11) led Hyundai by six in Fuel Cell patents while Hyundai led Honda by two in Hybrid/Electric Vehicle by score of nine to seven.
Vestas took 16 patents in the first quarter of 2014 - all in 16 Wind patents - leading all others in this category for the indicated quarter. Siemens was next with 12 Wind patent and one in Fuel Cells. Vestas was up one patent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013 while Siemens was down five.
Five companies had ten Clean Energy patents in the first quarter. IBM and LG had 9 in Solar and Sunpower had ten to lead all others. LG also had a Hybrid/Electric Vehicle patent. GE had patents in Wind (6), Solar (2), Hybrid/Electric (1) and Biomass/Biofuels (1). Mitsubishi had nine Wind patents to trail Vestas and Siemens in this area. GE, LG and IBM dropped two patents compared to the fourth quarter. Hyundai tied its total from the previous quarter and Siemens dropped 8 Clean Energy patents.
Despite there being more Solar patents granted in the first quarter than the other technologies, among the top ten Clean Energy patent grantees, Fuel Cells (65) topped all others in this subset of patent grantees by a wide margin. Wind (43), Solar (43) and Hybrid/Electric Vehicle (36) patents were relatively close to one another but were all far below the Fuel Cell total. The data reveals that this is at least partially an indicator of the auto industry's interest in fuel cells despite few fuel cell cars yet being sold at your local dealer. This appears to be changing as Toyota and others plan mass market fuel cell vehicles.
Japan led non-U.S. holders of U.S. Clean Energy patents and individual U.S. states, as depicted in the geographic charts, and had 115 patents in clean energy, down 73 from the previous quarter and down 36 from the same period a year prior. Japan again topped California (85) to take the quarterly geographical Clean Energy patent crown, which was itself also down (seven) relative to the previous quarter while being three up relative to the same time a year before. Korea matched its fourth quarter total (68) and again topped Michigan (43), but by a larger margin of 15 compared to the fourth quarter where Korea led the US auto industry's home state by five granted Clean Energy patents. Korea was up 25 over the same quarter of 2013 while Michigan was down 25.
Sandwiched between Korea and Michigan, Germany took third place in the first quarter of this year with 51 granted Clean Energy patents after being edged out by one for the same spot in the fourth quarter. Germany had 16 fewer clean energy patents in the first quarter relative to the previous one, and was down 21 compared to the same quarter of 2013. New York followed Michigan, but trailed by 17 patents, having been granted 26 clean energy patents, which was seven fewer than last quarter and 13 fewer than the first quarter of 2013.
Taiwan trailed New York by three in the first quarter and was down 11 and two, respectively, when compared to the previous quarter and one a year ago. Denmark had 21 granted clean energy patents and Texas had 15 in the first quarter. Other notables for the first quarter of 2014 included Massachusetts (15), Illinois (14), Ohio (13), and Spain (12).
As is evident from the above, the first quarter of 2014 produced the lowest level of granted clean energy patents since 2011 which is attributable to the way the USPTO published patents during this time period. The USPTO publishes new patents weekly on Tuesdays, and by chance there were only 12 Tuesdays in the first quarter of 2014 (there were 14 in the fourth quarter of 2013). This particular scenario has not happened before. If these two quarters were averaged, the average of each quarter (802) would still be the most ever granted in a quarter since tracking began. Despite this aberration it appears that the surge in clean energy patents is yet finished.
More detailed information regarding the CEPGI, including an analysis of each of the technology sectors and geographic breakdowns, is available at www.cleanenergypatentgrowthindex.com. Coming soon will be a year-end Clean Energy Patent wrap up. 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 to Victor Cardona atvac@hrfmlaw.com.
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