ARCHIVES
VOL. 11, ISSUE 12 (2025)
Patent law and circular economy technologies: A legal study under TRIPS, WIPO, and emerging sustainability frameworks
Authors
Rohini S, Dr. K Jameela
Abstract
The CE is tightly intertwined with advanced eco-innovative
technologies, including waste-to-resources, recycling, and recycling. However,
the global ecosystem is hampered by strong exclusivity of patents and high fees
in addition to restrictive IP practices, particularly by multinational
enterprises. Thus, the present paper investigates the interrelations of legal
and policy frameworks in relation to patents within the context of the circular
economy and the TRIPS Agreement, the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO) and Initiatives on Sustainable Development, as well as contemporary
global Environmental Law. Based on doctrinal and comparative methods of
research, the study investigates how certain TRIPS flexibilities, most notably
the compulsory licensing and government use of patents, can be used to
facilitate the accessibility of technologies of the circular economy to the
Global South. It seeks to propose some best practices pertaining to
collaborative licensing, open innovation, and state-initiated technology
transfer from South Korea, China, Japan, and the United States of America (USA)
and the European Union (EU) as international benchmarks of the foregoing. It
also attempts to analyse the domestic legal environment of India to ascertain
the discrepancies in patent law, environmental law, and circular economy law
within India. It was found that the lack of harmonization in patent law with
environmental policies within the context public interest, patent pools,
voluntary licensing, inter-institutional collaboration, and sustainability is
what created the inequitable accessibility to technological innovations within
the circular economy. The study ends with the assertion that harmonized patent
law and the environment can function as viable instruments to deliver
transformative the circular economy.
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Pages:11-16
How to cite this article:
Rohini S, Dr. K Jameela "Patent law and circular economy technologies: A legal study under TRIPS, WIPO, and emerging sustainability frameworks". International Journal of Law, Vol 11, Issue 12, 2025, Pages 11-16
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