Advances in technology bring mixed blessings: technology causes pollution at the same time it raises standards of living. Properly directed, technology can also clean up and control some of the environmental problems it caused in the first place. From an environmental perspective, it is important to distinguish between harmful and beneficial technology. For example, beneficial technology includes pollution control devices, cleanup equipment, industrial processes that minimize resources used and waste produced, and consumer products that are environmentally benign. There is mounting consensus that today's environmental regulations do a passable job at regulating harmful technology but do little to encourage beneficial technology.¹

But while environmental law is only beginning to encourage beneficial technology, patent law for centuries has been a dynamic engine of technology innovation. Patents already play a role in the environmental protection business. For example, General Electric contaminated Hudson River sediment with PCBs, then received a patent for PCB-digesting bacteria. ENSR Corp. is defending a lawsuit brought by Unison Transformer Services, Inc., alleging infringement of a patent for cleaning PCBs out of transformers.²