Nokia is particularly proactive in this area, phasing out certain materials used in its products. The environmental aspects in its product creation process have been reduced to the company's Material Data Form, essentially a list that includes material choices as well as data on recyclability, packaging, and energy saving.
"The components of a cellular phone are inert and perfectly harmless in normal use, but some may have to be given special consideration to enable proper end-of-life treatment," Minna E. Lindholm, Nokia's technology manager of Environmental Management, told the International Symposium on Electronics and Environment in Boston earlier this year.
Nokia also controls the use of different materials with its specially developed Nokia Substance List, which helps inform its suppliers about prohibited or harmful materials and substances. Lindholm says that Nokia is looking for ways to reuse and recycle materials at every stage of the product lifecycle.
"By having a grasp of the average material content in a cellular phone, it is easier to create trends and define future targets towards more eco-efficient products," adds Lindholm. But it's not so easy. Cranfield University in the U.K. researched the use of ecodesign software tools for industrial designers. In the university's findings, many designers complained that the tools available didn't show them how to actually do ecodesigns. Several designers surveyed said that ecodesign checklists were often too general and misguiding, if not simply overwhelming.
One tool, "A Designers Guide To Eco-Conscious Design Of Electrical And Electronic Equipment," was developed in Denmark specifically for electronics by the Institute for Product Development, the Danish Toxicology Center, and GN-Teknik. In fact, Europe is well ahead of the U.S. in meeting its legal obligations in ecodesign and in developing environmental rules for its high-tech industries. In one example, a directive passed this year by the European Union requires cell-phone makers and other electronics OEMs to eliminate brominated flame retardants from new products by mid-2006.
ONGOING ISSUES
Other ongoing legal issues will keep designers busy for years. Some aren't likely to ever disappear. One is reverse engineering, which engineers use to help them design competing products (but products that may not be substantially similar to theirs) and to make their designs interoperate with other products. This is an important and neverending element of the IP battle.
Some products are designed to secure their proprietary IP from reverse engineering. However, the IEEE-USA, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Washington D.C.-based unit that lobbies for IEEE members' career and public-policy interests, came out in strong support of the lawful reverse engineering of computer programs as fundamental to the development of programs and software-related technologies.
Glenn Tenney, chair of the IEEE-USA IP Committee, says that protecting reverse engineering is important. "The U.S. economy and our competitiveness internationally hinges upon the careful and closely negotiated balance that Congress built in federal IP law," he explains.
Then there are technologies with much more focused concerns, like text-to-speech. Who is liable if someone calls a bank or doctor's office and accesses your personal information? Today, call centers use safeguards designed into the system, such as PIN numbers, passwords, and questions (such as "What's your mother's maiden name?"). Tomorrow, designers may be able to protect their company's customers with the use of voice prints that will allow call centers to actually recognize a voice, especially if they threaten to sue.