Reps. John Tanner and Marsha Blackburn Defending Patents: Write Hillary Clinton on Climate Change Technologies

Oct. 24--WASHINGTON -- Following up on a June House vote instructing climate-change negotiators not to give away patent-protected technologies in their zeal to reach an agreement, U.S. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and John Tanner reiterated the position in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week.

The 432-0 vote on an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act was a signal that an overwhelming majority in Congress back intellectual property rights for existing American technologies that some less-developed countries argue should be made available without patent protections in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In their letter to Clinton, dated Thursday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Republican Blackburn and Democrat Tanner, reminded Clinton that intellectual property rights "protection is essential to achieving the innovation and worldwide technology deployment necessary to achieve environmental goals while meeting the global demand for energy."

Lawmakers have their eye on a series of meetings leading up to a mid-December session on climate change set for Copenhagen.

Some Mid-South ventures are among those hoping to license their intellectual property as efforts to address climate change advance.

For example, there's an earmarked project at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro that produces enzymes used to break down the cellulosic ethanol in agricultural waste such as corn stalks and rice and wheat straw.

And there would be future start-up companies in the Memphis Bioworks Foundation's incubator.

Drafts of proposals to deal with intellectual property rights issues have shown sharp divisions between developed and developing counties. The latter would like to see patent protections excluded from any future climate change convention, while many nations with robust economies would like to have patent protections guaranteed.

Contact Washington correspondent Bartholomew Sullivan at (202) 408-2726.

-----

To see more of The Commercial Appeal or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.commercialappeal.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.