Biotechnology and plant-related Patents
Why Patent? | PIPRA | A
Selected Bibliography | Utility
Patents for Plants
A. Why Patent? What
Can be Patented?
Transgenic
Crops, An Introduction and Resource Guide, Important landmarks in U.S. patent
law:
Excerpt: "A utility patent is often sought for products related to genetic
engineering because the utility patent can apply to the method used to engineer
a plant, the genetic sequences that are inserted, and the plant that results.
The Terminator patent is an example of a utility patent. It claims patent protection
for the method used to make Terminator plants as well as the seeds and plants
that are made. There is no exemption for farmers or plant breeders to use materials
protected by a utility patent."
B. PIPRA: the Public Intellectual Property
Resource for Agriculture
from the PIPRA web site:
PIPRA supports agricultural innovation for both
humanitarian and small-scale commercial purposes. We bring together intellectual
property from over 40 universities, public agencies, and non-profit institutes
and help make their technologies available to innovators around the world.
NOTE: NC State is a member of PIPRA.
Some resources available on this site include:
An IP Handbook of Best Practices, with detailed guides for Policymakers, Senior
Administrators, Tech
Transfer Managers, and Research
Scientists
"This web-based database was established to monitor and advertise, on an
ongoing basis, the status information of PIPRA member
institutions' agricultural biotechnology intellectual properties."
A Member IP Database
The database, searchable by many fields, includes over 6600 patents
and patent applications from 45 different countries. Database contents
represent the agricultural portfolio of 27 universities and non-profit
research institutions.
Science article introducing PIPRA:
Intellectual
Property Rights: Public Sector Collaboration for Agricultural IP Management
Richard C. Atkinson,
Roger N. Beachy, Gordon Conway, et al.
Science 301(5630):174 - 175, July 11, 2003
Abstract:
The fragmented ownership of rights to
intellectual property (IP) in agricultural biotechnology leads to situations
where no single public-sector institution can provide a complete set
of IP rights to ensure freedom to operate with a particular technology.
This situation causes obstacles to the distribution of improved staple
crops for humanitarian purposes in the developing world and specialty crops
in the developed world. This Policy Forum describes an initiative by the
major agricultural universities in the United States and other public-sector
institutions to establish a new paradigm in the management of IP to facilitate
commercial development of such crops.
C. A Selected Bibliography
NEW
Patent
Protection and Access to Genetic Resources
Itsuki Shimbo, Yoko Ito, and Koichi Sumikura, Nature Biotechnology
26:645-647, 2008.
Patents, Protections, and Privileges The Establishment of Intellectual
Property in Animals and Plants
Daniel J. Kevles, Isis 98(2):323 -331, 2007.
Review:
Intellectual Property Aspects of Plant Transformation
JM Dunwell; Plant Biotechnology Journal 3(4):371-384, July 2005
Summary
One of the recurring themes of the debates concerning the application of
genetic transformation technology has been the role of Intellectual Property
Rights (IPR). This term covers both the content of patents and the confidential
expertise usually related to methodology and referred to as ‘Trade Secrets’. This review
explains the concepts behind patent protection, and discusses the wide-ranging
scope of existing patents that cover all aspects of transgenic technology, from
selectable markers and novel promoters to methods of gene introduction. Although
few of the patents in this area have any real commercial value, there are a small
number of key patents that restrict the ‘freedom to operate’ of new
companies seeking to exploit the methods. Over the last 20 years, these
restrictions have forced extensive cross-licensing between ag-biotech companies
and have been one of the driving forces behind the consolidation of these companies.
Although such issues are often considered of little interest to the academic
scientist working in the public sector, they are of great importance in any discussion
of the role of ‘public-good breeding’ and of the relationship between
the public and private sectors.
Intellectual
Property Protection of Plant Biotechnology Inventions
KA Sechley and H Schroeder; Trends in Biotechnology 20(11):456-461,
November 1, 2002.
Abstract
The intellectual property protection of biotechnology-related subject
matter is undergoing significant change and several countries have revised
their legislation and/or patent practice as a result of challenges from industry
and members of the public. Plant-related subject matter can be protected using
plant variety protection, utility patents or, in the USA, by plant patent.
Although easier to obtain than a utility patent, plant variety protection does
not provide the same scope of protection. Protecting a plant using a utility
patent is permitted only in countries that allow the patenting of higher life
forms and requires a higher degree of experimental support than is required
for plant variety protection, although the scope of protection is being steadily
reduced.
Book (Online and in Print):
Reaping the benefits
of genomic and proteomic research : intellectual property rights, innovation,
and public health, Stephen
A. Merrill and Anne-Marie Mazza, editors.
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Intellectual Property Rights
in Genomic and Protein Research and Innovation.
Washington, D.C. : National Academies Press, c2006.
QH447 .R43 2006 -- D.H. Hill Library - Stacks (7th floor)
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