The wind power industry has emerged as arguably the fastest growing electricity generation sub-industry in the recent past mainly due to increasing concern towards decarbonizing economies and continuing innovation. Due to the rapid growth rate, increasing concern has been raised about Intellectual Property Rights especially in the areas of Turbine Technology, Control System, and Manufacturing Processes. The lack of clarity that currently defines the industry entails that discovering the relationships that exist between patents, trade secrets, and industry collaboration becomes critical for stakeholders as the industry progresses to maturity.

THE PATENT LANDSCAPE IN WIND ENERGY

As the wind energy sector has rapidly developed in the past ten years, both Vestas, Siemens Gamesa, and GE Renewable Energy are examples of companies that have filed numerous patents. These firms have been more so relentless in defending patents relating to blade construction, drive train, and offshore wind power. New data indicates hat the rate of applications for patents in wind energy technology stands at 15-20% annually which is higher than most other renewable energy technologies.

The most important development observed in the field of protection of the wind technology is that it is now smarter with AI control systems, and an AI-based solution of predictive maintenance system is often a part of the ‘smart’ protection mechanism. Such patents are likely to encompass a synergy of classical mechanical engineering and recent computer-based technologies and thus cause new problems for the offices as well as market participants in terms of delimitation of the protected subject-matter.

INDUSTRY LEADERS AND IP STRATEGY

A good example of how companies plan for their IP is through Vestas, the Danish wind turbine manufacturer. This is in contrast with some of its competitors that strictly practice the patent thick accumulation strategy while Vestas has adopted the strategy of compatible patent accumulation accompanied by contingent open innovative activities. They have used it to persistently shield essential technologies’ improvements while strengthening industry cooperation on the non-critical ones.

Indeed, while GE Renewable Energy has been rather active in patenting technology, especially in the area of offshore wind power. The rising tensions of IP protectionism in the renewable energy sector where GE recently filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Siemens Gamesa in offshore wind technology can also be regarded as a recent act. The case involving rights in GE’s zero-voltage ride-through technology illustrates the role of patents in setting up access to markets as well as relations within industries.

TRADE SECRETS IN WIND ENERGY MANUFACTURING

Although the patents overshadow the others, the trade secrets also have their part to play in wind energy sector innovations. Conventional manufacturing processes especially in blades manufacture and composites to a large extent do not rely on patents but more on secrecy. It helps the various companies to keep competitive advantages and it is normally used where patent protection is tough and can’t be a public information.

As of LM Wind Power, now a part of GE Renewable Energy the protection of blade manufacturing process has been traditionally based on the application of trade secrets. Their approach illustrates both the benefits and risks of trade secret protection.

THE POWER OF PROTECTION: TRADE SECRET ADVANTAGES

The option to protect wind energy through trade secrets has a number of substantial benefits many may find appealing. The protection is indefinite suggesting that once a company adopts a name or logo it can continue to do so without worrying about time restraints. Some of the advantages that companies derive from the situation include working arrangements that allow them to maintain inventions secret from the public, unlike in patent filings. The financial factor is also amusing as trade secret protection is comparatively cheaper than a serious method of patenting. Also, companies get more freedom when it comes to protecting their minor advancements, meaning that innovative companies do not have to register their improvements to secure them.

However, these benefits have inherent significant risks that any aspiring firm needs to weigh before adopting innovation strategies. Among these threats, one of the biggest one is a potential for reverse engineering; competitors could legally learn the content of protected technologies. You will note that in an attempt to protect their rights against independent development, companies can experience a lot of challenges since it is costly to prove misappropriation.

The globalization of supply chain management also presents extra challenges since it has become even more challenging to keep information confidential across multiple partners and establishments. Most evidently, companies stand a risk of losing protection of their secrets completely common through internal mistakes or external invasions.

MASTERING THE CHAIN: THAT’S WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO SUPPLY CHAIN IP MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES.

The relatively convoluted global supply chain system of the wind energy sector makes protection of IP an emerging issue of consideration. Largest players work with several hundred counterparts, so there are many touch points where information could be leaked or fall into wrong hands. In return the industry has been able to formulate some advanced techniques when it comes to IP management in an effort to manage these challenges. Corporations today retain strict organization of key data and/or facts, guaranteeing that only the required shooters receive such data. They adopt a tiered supply structure which limits the amount of technical information that can be shared with the suppliers depending on the closeness of the relationship that the company has with such a supplier. Another gauge of commitment to compliance has been the requisite compliance audit which has become routine in organisations. In addition, structured technology transfer agreements which outlines the process of information sharing as well as the regimes on protection of IP are used by companies to establish structures that offer protection for the IP in the supply chain network.

Cases of manufacturer-supplier conflict seen the importance of properly drawing dichotomous and obvious IP lines. For instance, a major manufacturer in Europe recently experienced some difficulties when a former supplier introduced a similar part, asserting that it was developed independently of the purchasing firm. The case just emphasized the seemingly iron-clad contractual provisions may not fully protect a company and proprietary information must be strictly documented.

WINDS OF CHANGE: EMERGING IP PROTECTION TRENDS

Over the past few years wind energy is passing through a transitional period of change in its frameworks of IPR protection due to the following factors that are influencing the industry practices most significantly. One such strategy that have surfaced as dominant is cross licensing especially in offshore wind power production industry where players are working round strategies to maneuver around such patent maps while avoiding pitfalls of litigation. Such agreements facilitate technology development by means of partnership; they help companies obtain key technologies while keeping their most valuable developments safeguarded.

This has also been characteristic of a rise in managed openness innovation strategies, where some companies decide to make limited information available to the rest of the industry for the general advancement of the industry. Thus, such a delicate line between openness and protection appears to be a critical factor in retaining competitive advantages and contributing to more extensive technological developments at the same time.

DIGITAL REVOLUTION: NEW FRONTIER OF IP PROTECTION

The use of digital technology has presented new levels of risk and uncertainty unlike what has ever been witnessed in the protection of Intellectual Property hence changing overall IP management outlook within companies. Ownership of data and the safeguarding of algorithms have emerged as major issues of discussion miles into the digitalization of wind energy systems. Currently, there have emerged elaborate measures that organizations can take to secure business information and at the same time facilitate the sharing of the same for business optimization. This tense relationship between proprietary and openness has resulted into advancement of management technique in IPs especially in the areas of predictive maintenance, grid level integration and performance optimization techniques.

BUILDING TOMORROW'S FOUNDATIONS: STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS

In the rather convoluted industry of wind energy, a strategic management of IP assets has been deemed rather significant for companies. Effective companies are conducting portfolio reviews on a fixed schedule to verify compliance with strategic goals and strike the right balance between patenting and protecting trade secrets. It also implies precise definition of trade secrets and confidential information, which is sufficient to identify most valuable intellectual assets.

Firms are also inventing more sophisticated approaches of managing and assessing their IP assets and hence are well positioned to seize shifts in markets and technologies.

SECURING THE CHAIN: SUPPLY NETWORK PROTECTION

The specifically defined notion of IPs, their safeguarding within the value chain, has become recognized as a key area of concern for wind energy firms. Companies are signing broad and elaborate contracts covering all aspects of relationships with suppliers and explicitly defining how and which IP shall be shared. Many organizations check their conformity to the provisions of IP and perform monitoring on a frequent basis; this has made it possible to exercise certain amount of control over such assets despite increasing cooperation with various partners from around the world. They are also also establishing systematic strategies to promote technology transaction and knowledge transfer, to check that innovation could move well through supply networks, supply chains, value nets and worth webs while keeping necessary security levels. Innovation Safeguards: There are certain improvements that it will be pertinent to safeguard from future developments making it important to protect future developments.

Modern businesses are increasingly employing strategic approaches to IPR because they use early screening checklists to assess their innovative prospects to identify the most effective forms of protection. This includes and clearly defined guidelines for the identification and protection of trade secrets from conceptualization of the invention. Competitive tracking of patent filing by competitors and industry trends has become more standard, which helps companies do not get taken by surprise by technological advancement or Intellectual Property issues. This signifies that the companies will be able to safeguard their competitive advantage and or develop new ways of advancing the evolution of wind energy.

CONCLUSION

Development of IP protection as practiced by the wind energy sector is still progressive intensity because the sector is still growing. It is clear that openness combined with proper protection of ideas is the key to industry growth today. This means that organizations should be keen when choosing IP strategies, especially with the advance in digital transformation and more a complex supply chain.

This environment forces one to appreciate the different IP protection techniques and to be in a position to distinguish between the one that will suite best in this situation and the one that will not. Thus, IP management will remain crucial on the industry background to sustain competition advantage while ensuring the cooperative requirements for the industry development.

The experience analysed in many recent disputes and industry transformations indicates that a reasonable approach to intellectual property protection with a combination of timely and relevant filings on patents, adequate management of trade secrets, and supply chain analysis should be considered for most players in the industries. Such issues will only grow in significance as the sector expands further; it is essential to keep the competitive edge while nurturing the R&D advances required to advance the wind industry further.

Author :- Prince Lucky Jain, in case of any query, contact us at Global Patent Filing or write back us via email at support@globalpatentfiling.com.

REFERENCES

I. Richard Gevers, Patent Protection in the Wind Turbine Industry, Lexology (Oct. 4, 2023), https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=42e71c49-abeb-43ac-90aa-31966d00b6e7.

II. José A. Díaz-González & Luis M. González-Morales, Technological Patterns in the Wind Power Industry: A Study Based on Patent Deposits, 48 Energy Pol’y 102 (2024), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0172219024000401.

III. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), WIPO Technology Trends 2019: Artificial Intelligence (2019), https://www.wipo.int/edocs/pubdocs/en/wipo_pub_1055.pdf.

IV. GE Renewable Energy v. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy, S.A., No. 1:21-cv-00070 (E.D. Va. filed Jan. 19, 2021); see also Eric Wesoff, GE Sues Siemens Gamesa Over Offshore Wind Turbine Patent, Canary Media (Jan. 21, 2021), https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/wind/ge-sues-siemens-gamesa-over-offshore-wind-turbine-patent.

V. World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), World Intellectual Property Indicators 2024: Patent Highlights, tbl.1.1 (2024), https://www.wipo.int/web-publications/world-intellectual-property-indicators-2024-highlights/en/patents-highlights.html.

VI. WTO Centre, Trade Secret Protection in India: The Policy Debate, Working Paper, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (2020), https://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/workingpaper/Trade%20Secret%20Protection%20in%20India-%20The%20policy%20debate.pdf.

VII. LM Wind Power, Business Highlights, https://www.lmwindpower.com/en/about/business-highlights (last visited June 23, 2025).

VIII. Saikat Dutta & Ananya Chakraborty, Trade Secret Protection in India: The Policy Debate, Ctr. for WTO Stud. Working Paper (2020), https://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/workingpaper/Trade%20Secret%20Protection%20in%20India-%20The%20policy%20debate.pdf.

IX. Quarkslab, Reverse Engineering: Threat to Intellectual Property Innovations, https://www.quarkslab.com/article-reverse-engineering-threat-to-intellectual-property-innovations/ (last visited June 23, 2025).

X. US Warns Britain over Chinese Wind Farm Security Risks, Fin. Times (June 18, 2025), https://www.ft.com/content/8f9fd267-ab58-4f12-8b99-2b5166626622.

XI. Technology Transfer Agreements, Sustainability-Directory.com, https://energy.sustainability-directory.com/term/technology-transfer-agreements/.

XII. Ignacio Sánchez & Ana Pérez, Managing Technology Transfer Challenges in the Renewable Energy Sector within the European Union, 2 Renewables & Sustain. (Mar. 2024), https://www.mdpi.com/2674-032X/2/1/9.

XIII. Norton Rose Fulbright, Intellectual Property (IP) and the Renewable Energy Transition, https://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/en-in/knowledge/publications/ab53b49a/intellectual-property-ip-and-the-renewable-energy-transition (last visited June 23, 2025).

XIV. Stine Haakonsson & Dmitrij Slepniov, Technology Transmission Across National Innovation Systems: The Role of Danish Suppliers in Upgrading the Wind Energy Industry in China, 30 Eur. J. Dev. Rsch. (Feb. 2018).

XV. Tekton, Energy Innovation and IP Management: Lessons from Industry Leaders (2024).

XVI. McKinsey & Co., The 2022 McKinsey Global Payments Report, McKinsey.com (Oct. 2022), https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-2022-mckinsey