In its position on IP protection for plant-related inventions ESA identified the need for more transparency regarding the patent status of plant varieties and committed itself to increase such transparency.

 

Despite the fact that there are already a number of publicly available databases in relation to patents, information providing the link between individual varieties and individual patents currently is not available anywhere. But when starting a breeding program, it is of critical importance to breeders to know whether the biological material they intend to use may fall under the scope of an already granted patent or even a patent application. Where such information is lacking, breeders may be discouraged to make use of important genetic resources which, in the end, may even slow down innovation in breeding. ESA’s database project is meant to fill this information gap and thus allow breeders to  make a more informed choice.

 

“The database will include information not only on granted patents but also on patent applications as of the moment of their publication. As a start, we will focus on plant varieties commercialized in Europe; but if we’re successful, it is quite likely that we will extend the scope to other parts of the world later”, explains Garlich von Essen, ESA’s Secretary General. “The main feature of the database will be its search function. Users can search the content on the base of a number of criteria such as variety denomination, species, patent number or keyword. Even though we target our members, the breeders in the first place, I believe that the database will become a valuable tool also for public research bodies, public authorities, farmers and growers”.

 

ESA’s new patent database shall be launched publicly on July 1st; but already as of today, a link to a preliminary site with regular updates is accessible from the ESA website.