November 22, 2004
Source:
SciDev Net Feature
Development of intellectual
property rules means that new plant varieties are no longer
openly available for use — a situation that some in developing
countries have raised concerns about. The World Trade
Organisation's agreement on trade-related aspects of
intellectual property rights (TRIPS), for instance, ensures that
a patent owner's permission must be granted before patented
products can be imported.
In this article in
Science, Bonwoo Koo and
colleagues review the variety of plant-related intellectual
property legislation practised worldwide. The authors discuss
direct patenting of plants or plant products (such as seeds),
and approaches that allow 'benefit sharing' — in which both
those who preserve or develop the resource (for example, plant
breeders and farmers) enter into a mutually beneficial agreement
with those wanting to use the resources (such as researchers).
They also analyse the policy of 'sui generis' systems of
protection — created on a case by case basis — that allow plant
breeders to control the commercialisation of their plant
varieties.
The broad scope of
international treaties means that countries can each implement
them in different ways, thus "tailoring legislation" to local
circumstances, say the authors. They add that rich countries are
more restricted by intellectual property legislation than are
poor countries. The authors also believe that the development of
intellectual property rights legislation does not threaten crop
research or commercialisation of new varieties in developing
countries.
Reference:
Science 306, 1295
(2004) |