IPTango: plant breeders' rights

Showing posts with label plant breeders' rights. Show all posts

Tuesday, 14 June 2022

Brazil: Patents and Transgenic Plants

Patricia Covarrubia June 14, 2022 No comments:

The Brazilian IPO (INPI) has initiated a public consultation on the Nota Técnica CPAPD nº 01/2022. The Nota ‘aims to define the guidelines to be followed by its examiners in the examination of patentability of inventions associated with transgenic plants’, specifically ‘elite event’.

Art 2 of the consultation welcomes suggestions and critiques related to the note and invite these to be submitted to cpapd.patentes@inpi.gov.br (deadline 30 days from 31 May 2022). After the deadline, and in accordance with Art 3 of the note, INPI will present the contributions provided by the consultation together with the final text. Click on the note to read the consultation publication [Portuguese]

The Nota Técnica CPAPD nº 01/2022 can be found here. [Portuguese]

The application of genetic transformation technology and the role of patents have been discussed for decades, in particular the matter of patentability of ‘living organism’ (biotechnology) and the ‘public-good breeding’. A technical understanding is needed as the requirements of novelty (new) and inventive step (non-obvious) are crucial. Moreover, whether the subject matter can be patentable. In any case, Brazil is a member of the international union for the protection of new varieties of plants (UPOV Convention) since 1999 and thus, have laws on plant variety protection in line with such international Convention.

Cisgenic tress by Oregon State University

In principle, biological matter is not patentable (in Brazil this is so by Art 18(III) of the Industrial Property Law – Law No 9.279/96). However, it does not mean that an invention is not patentable just because the product and or process contain biological material. Here is then when it gets complicated and thus, the guidelines are welcome.

Article One of the CPAPD nº 01/2022 starts by providing a definition of what ‘elite event’ means. This is done by FIVE criteria, as follow:

1)the event transforms a plant

2) through the insertion of a transgene

3) by using a genetic construct

4) been stable, in which the insertion took place at a specific location in the plant genome, and

5) gives the plant a superior technical effect when compared to other transformation.

Because transgenic plants are the ‘inventive concept’ that links to the ‘accessory ones’, there is the need to discuss the potential patentability of the additional inventions that derive from the main invention.

Source INPI.

México: Demandan acceso público a riqueza genética vegetal

Gilberto Macias (@gmaciasb) October 01, 2009 No comments:

El senador del PRD, Rubén Velásquez presentó una iniciativa para reformar la Ley Federal de Variedades Vegetales con el fin establecer límites a las patentes y derechos de propiedad intelectual sobre los recursos fitogenéticos.

En palabras del legislador "La propuesta parte de la perspectiva de que el derecho de uso de estos recursos y conocimientos no pueda ser restringidos a la vía de la propiedad intelectual ni a la legislación en materia civil".

La iniciativa pretende establecer que los recursos fitogenéticos son de dominio público y que nadie podrá ejercer derechos o imponer restricciones cuando su acceso tenga por objetivo el desarrollo de investigaciones para la alimentación o la agricultura.

Más información aquí.

Mexican plant breeders' rights: facts and figures

Jeremy September 25, 2008 No comments:

A useful article on plant breeders' rights in Mexico has recently been published, explaining the operation of the National Seed Inspection and Certification System (NSICS) which supervises the filing and grant of breeders' rights applications. Importantly for foreign applicants, it says that if the breeder has obtained the results of an examination by an authority abroad that formally collaborates with the NSCIS, such as the European Union's Community Plant Variety Office, the processing time for the corresponding Mexican application may be reduced if the applicant asks the NSCIS to take the examination results into account. If all necessary documentation is filed at the start, the process typically takes about one year.

The article also provides some data that shows the extent to which the Mexican protection system is used (as of September 2007):

"The NSICS's records show that 805 plant variety applications have been filed in Mexico, of which 37.6% were filed by US applicants and 33.5% by Mexican entities. Dutch, French and German applicants accounted for 11.9%, 8.4% and 3.5% of the applications, respectively. The NSICS has registered 184 applications for maize and 170 applications for roses - these high numbers are explained by the fact that maize originates in Mexico and by the country's wide range of climates for floriculture".

[source: "Plant Variety Protection System Continues to Bear Fruit", by Eric Alavez-Mejia (Becerril, Coca & Becerril SC, Mexico), writing in International Law Office].

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* Listed as one of the "Best blogs on Intellectual and Industrial Property Law". The University of Alicante Intellectual Property & Information Technology Project (UAIPIT).

* One of the only two Latin American blog listed in the "Top 100 Intellectual Property Blogs". Feedspot, as of May 2021.

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* Listed as one of the "Communities of Blawgers". Los blogs jurídicos y la web 2.0. para la difusión y la enseñanza del derecho, Gonzalo Ramírez Cleves, 2010.