Intellectual Property Rights

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) include many forms of legal protection that give inventors varying degrees of exclusive use rights. These include patents, plant breeders' rights, trademarks, and copyright. Since the mid 1900s, breeders in the US could obtain Plant Variety Protection (PVP)

to obtain exclusive market rights to a new variety, while still allowing farmers to reuse seed. Many countries grant protection similar to the PVP, which is internationally recognized by the International Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). For US biotechnology, the major development came in 1980 when the case of Diamond vs Chakraborty established that companies or individuals could receive utility patents, the strongest form of protection, for newly created organisms. With this act, the US became the only country that grants patents for crop varieties.

Intellectual property rights are intended to promote research and development by allowing researchers to recoup development costs. However, there is some concern that the current level of protection is too broad, as it allows patenting of individual genes and biotechnology research methods, and thus may actually stifle innovation.

One of the most important effects of IPRs has been the concentration of biotechnology research in the private sector. Globally, about five companies are responsible for the vast majority of biotech research. Naturally, these companies have focused on crops and traits (such as herbicide resistance) that are important commercially and thus have a high profit margin. However, this has led to effective exclusion of most crops and traits that are of interest to marginal and small-scale farmers. This highlights the crucial need for increased public research.

There are also equity concerns, as private companies can currently obtain plant germplasm at no cost from public sources such as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The modified varieties are then released under patent, so profits go back to private companies, without any compensation to the developers (or country of origin) of the previous variety.

IPRs are mandated on a national level, and so differ by country, limiting the international movement of genetically modified crops. Concerns over access and transfer of technology led to the establishment of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in 1995. This mandates that all World Trade Organization (WTO) members implement a certain minimum level of protection within five to ten years. Lesser-developed countries were given until 2005 to bring their IPRs into compliance with the standards. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is providing technical assistance and training to developing countries to help them meet their TRIPs commitment. There are costs to instituting IPRs, such as royalty payments, but this has to be weighed against the prospect of restricted access to biotech products. There are also potential conflicts between the TRIPs agreement and the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity, which established national sovereign rights over indigenous germplasm.

This information was gathered from the following sites:

“Intellectual Property”
From Transgenic Plants and World Agriculture (2000 Report)
http://stills.nap.edu/html/transgenic/intel_prop.html

“Intellectual Property Protection: Who Needs It?” by David L. Richer
From: Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor, CGIAR
http://www.cgiar.org/biotech/rep0100/Richer.pdf

The Role of Intellectual Property Rights in BT Transfer Under the Convention of Biological Diversity
ISAAA Brief #3
http://www.isaaa.org/publications/briefs/Brief_3.htm

Biotechnology For Developing Country Agriculture: Intellectual
Property Management
IFPRI Brief 7 of 10, from 2020 Focus 2
http://www.ifpri.cgiar.org/2020/focus/focus02/focus02_07.htm

Enclosing the Global Plant Genetic Commons
Rockefeller Foundation Report on the implications of IPR for developing nations
http://www.rockfound.org/display.asp?context=1&Collection=3&
DocID=220

For more information see:

World Intellectual Property Organization
United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of intellectual
property rights worldwide.
http://www.wipo.int/biotech/introduction/index.html

“Managing Intellectual Property-Challenges and Responses for National Agricultural Research Centers” by Joel I. Cohen
From: Agricultural Biotechnology and the Poor, CGIAR
http://www.cgiar.org/biotech/rep0100/jcohen.pdf

Intellectual Property Rights for Agricultural Biotechnology:
Options and Implications for Developing Countries
ISNAR Research Report #3
ftp://ftp.cgiar.org/isnar/Publicat/PDF/rr-03.pdf

Intellectual Property/Technology Transfer Initiative (IP/TT)
of ISAAA
Facilitates biotechnology transfer
http://www.isaaa.org/activities/ip_tt.htm
Virtual workshop on how to write contracts, get licenses, monitor trials,
etc.
http://www.isaaa.org/ip/vw/

Back to Main World Page

Global History
Current Situation
Food Safety
Biodiversity
Trade
Developing World Concerns
International Organizations