The importance of patent protection in sustainable packaging – Q&A with Adam Kelvey, Senior Associate at Reddie & Grose

  • Who are Reddie & Grose?

We are a UK and European firm of Patent, Trademark and Design attorneys, with more than 80 specialists in a range of technical disciplines. We handle a full range of IP rights for a global client base ranging from SMEs starting to consider IP through to large corporations with rights in over 100 countries.

We work with packaging designers and manufacturers to secure patent, trademark, and design protection for their innovations.

  • What do you consider to be the most promising market opportunities for the sustainable packaging industry at this time?

According to Deloitte, 1 in 3 of us have stopped purchasing brands or products because of ethical or sustainability concerns about them. Knowing how much packaging ends up in landfill, consumers and governments are demanding higher standards of sustainability in packaging materials.

This creates a huge opportunity for the sustainability market to find innovative solutions that meet demands for sustainable materials without sacrificing quality. If we look at patent filings as an identifier of the direction that designers and inventors are going in, we can see a real boom in sustainable packaging innovation that addresses this issue

For example, annually, the number of European patent applications relating to circular packaging strategies increased by 27% between 2010 and 2019. The vast majority of these were directed to “zero waste” innovation where the packaging is removed altogether, such as solid cosmetics and edible coatings.

  • Why is it important to obtain patent protection for your packaging innovation?

Patent protection is essential to facilitate the drive towards a more sustainable packaging industry. Patents protect technical inventions and provide a robust mechanism to exclude competitors from utilising the inventions for themselves. This allows packaging designers and manufacturers to take full commercial advantage of their packaging innovation. Patent portfolios can help to attract investment, act as a marketing tool, and bring value to other business negotiations. To be patentable, a packaging innovation need to be new, not obvious, and must solve a technical problem.

  • Why is it important to register design and trademark protection for your packaging innovation?

Registered designs protect the appearance of a product, including the packaging, and give the owner power to prevent others from mimicking their design. Included in this is protection for the whole product, or a part affected by features such as shape and materials used. Registering a design is relatively quick, inexpensive and adds considerable commercial value if the appearance of the product is key to its success.

Trademark protection is also invaluable when protecting a brand. A registered trademark gives the owner a framework to stop other people from using similar marks for their own goods. Innovators are able to keep their brand of sustainable innovation unique to them and stop others from taking advantage of their work with copycat products.

  • In your opinion, what have been the most significant developments in terms of recycling and bio-degradable packaging?

If we look closer at two recent patent applications, we can see significant advances being made in alternative materials and bio-degradable packaging.

The “ButterflyCup” (WO 2020/030683), said to be “the world’s most environmentally friendly cup” is 100% paper. After use, it can be recycled in a regular paper bin, a food waste bin, or composted. The application was successful for its novel “horned” design, where folds in the paper seal the cup without the need for a separate plastic lid

A biodegradable bioplastic has been developed in the US that is used as an alternative to plastic and polystyrene foams (WO 2012/148995).  Formed from mushroom mycelia, the bioplastic is malleable for a wide variety of industrial and consumer applications. The live mycelium is fed agricultural waste to grow before being harvested, shaped and baked.  The process is innovative because the material is produced using a fraction of the energy to produce conventional foamed plastics, and it is fully biodegradable. Visit the insights page on the Reddie & Grose website to see our library of Eco & Sustainability blogs