Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Intellectual property and sustainability: green tech patents, trade marks and greenwashing, design and packaging rules, repair and spare parts, copyright and databases, licensing, collaboration and competition

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

Practice notes

Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are significant, urgent and immediate challenges. Innovation has a vital and expanding role to play in tackling them, for example through the creation and rollout of new technologies and products focused on climate change mitigation, renewable energy, reducing pollution, sustainable use of resources, and recycling of waste.

This Practice Note explores the various ways in which IP rights, including patents, trade marks, designs, copyright and database rights, can be deployed to protect inventive products and services. It also reviews the interaction of IP with emerging practices such as upcycling, retrofitting and repairing products, together with the issues that brand owners should consider carefully to minimise the risk of greenwashing. It further considers the matters to take into account when collaborating on, and effectively exploiting, new technologies.

Innovation and the environment

It is becoming ever clearer that the effective deployment of IP rights will play a key role in addressing the environmental challenges faced across the world. For example:

the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) stated that the aim of World IP Day 2024 was to highlight ‘the critical importance of IP in catalysing the human innovation and creativity needed for...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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