AGQM starts patent monitoring in the fields of bio-diesel production technology and additives

The association Qualitätsmanagement Biodiesel e.V. (AGQM – Association Quality Management Biodiesel), jointly with other opponents, has successfully attacked several patents which concern blending fuels made of mineral oil products and FAME (bio-diesel). These patent rights have been completely withdrawn after objections have been filed and hearings been conducted, even before the European Patent Court.
The major defect of the disputed patents consisted in their claim which didn’t contain an inventive step: The results could have been achieved by any expert trained in this field without any inventory input or have already been common knowledge among experts in one case.
According to the AGQM’s findings, this situation is by no means restricted to individual cases: Quite the contrary, the internationally increasing number of patent applications has led to a situation, in which not all the formal defects are identified in the course of the official examination that would prevent the issue of a patent. However, once such patents become legally effective, although they merely correspond to the state-of-the-art, they will constitute a great danger for the companies doing business in this particular industry.
The AGQM is of the opinion that inventions – also those in the field of bio-fuels – can make an important contribution to the further development of the product range and to an im-provement of their application potential. On the other hand, it is counter-productive, if attempts are made to include facts into patent applications’ scope of protection that are neither new nor contain an inventive step.
It is for this reason that the AGQM is now regularly going to conduct a patent monitoring in those fields which are important for the bio-diesel sector.
With its systematic patent research the AGQM does not only intend to identify potentially objectionable patents as early as possible, in order to be in a position to take suitable (counter-)measures, it also wants to follow up the latest developments, so that the potentials inherent in bio-diesel and in the other bio-fuels can be better exploited. The AGQM will be accompanied in their efforts by an experienced lawyer’s office and, at the same time, use its own know-how for the assessment of the patents concerned.
The work required for the patent monitoring is currently put in exclusively by the AGQM members, although it is intended to allow other interested companies outside the AGQM joining this group.