The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will accelerate the process for obtaining a green technology patent in an effort to spur the development of a renewable business here (tip to VentureBeat).

Right now, it takes about 40 months to get a decision from the USPTO. The office will try to reduce that to around 12 months. 3,000 patent applications will be run through the accelerated process to see how well it works. 25,000 more will follow if it does.

"American competitiveness depends on innovation and innovation depends on creative Americans developing new technology,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a prepared statement. “By ensuring that many new products will receive patent protection more quickly, we can encourage our brightest innovators to invest needed resources in developing new technologies and help bring those technologies to market more quickly.”

A lot of people hate patents and they immediately start complaining about patent trolls, stifling of innovation, etc. when the topic comes up. I've reviewed several patent cases and talked to several intellectual property firms over the years (here's an article from way back). I've only met a few people who genuinely milk the system. Most patent cases invariably are grounded in a legitimate argument. And rarely have I met anyone who complains about the system that actually has something worthwhile to pirate.

Patents are also going to be increasingly important in greentech. Most companies will not be able to obtain the funds to build factories. Many companies will have to turn to licensing. So overall this program could be good.