What can patents on biotechnological processes mean for farm animal breeding?
Of the numerous patents on animal breeding and reproduction inventions, many are already distributed in the form of processes and some are licensed, so that effects on the breeding sector are easier to anticipate.
Some of these patents apply to specific and quite narrow situations (cloning of bovine embryos, method of producing transgenic pigs, process of culturing avian embryos, etc.) but others are broad patents on basic processes of animal breeding. For example, several broad patents cover basic approaches to the production of transgenic animals, such as a patent on genetic transformation of zygotes.
Above all, a similar situation of broad patents exists in the field of marker-assisted selection tools. Here, a growing number of patents - especially in the pig sector - protect methods of detecting genetic mutations or genetic variations in functional genes that directly influence production traits, for example pigs that are resistant to stress or more likely to produce larger litters or to develop less intramuscular fat.
As the first generation of patents with a real impact in the animal biotechnology field, such patents have sometimes caused concern in the animal selection sector. The owners of these patents are in a position to require royalties from a very large number of persons working in the pig sector and the patent may be very difficult to bypass because of the broad monopoly. For instance, a Canadian company holds a patent on a "mutant RYR1 gene" and a method of identifying said gene in a pig.
Claims are drafted in such a way that any method to determine the presence of the mutation is protected by the patent. Any improved process proposed by another company would be considered counterfeiting, which is all the more inconvenient when the requested royalties seem high.
In these areas, it may be necessary to support public sector research and to explore ways to develop intellectual property arrangements in order to ensure that these techniques are available to the whole breeding sector at fair commercial conditions.
This is particularly important for patents on methods of detecting diseases such as mad cow disease. In such situations, it would seem necessary to make adjustments to the patent system, which could rely upon a compulsory licensing mechanism tailored to this problem of broad patents.
Some of these patents apply to specific and quite narrow situations (cloning of bovine embryos, method of producing transgenic pigs, process of culturing avian embryos, etc.) but others are broad patents on basic processes of animal breeding. For example, several broad patents cover basic approaches to the production of transgenic animals, such as a patent on genetic transformation of zygotes.
Above all, a similar situation of broad patents exists in the field of marker-assisted selection tools. Here, a growing number of patents - especially in the pig sector - protect methods of detecting genetic mutations or genetic variations in functional genes that directly influence production traits, for example pigs that are resistant to stress or more likely to produce larger litters or to develop less intramuscular fat.
As the first generation of patents with a real impact in the animal biotechnology field, such patents have sometimes caused concern in the animal selection sector. The owners of these patents are in a position to require royalties from a very large number of persons working in the pig sector and the patent may be very difficult to bypass because of the broad monopoly. For instance, a Canadian company holds a patent on a "mutant RYR1 gene" and a method of identifying said gene in a pig.
Claims are drafted in such a way that any method to determine the presence of the mutation is protected by the patent. Any improved process proposed by another company would be considered counterfeiting, which is all the more inconvenient when the requested royalties seem high.
In these areas, it may be necessary to support public sector research and to explore ways to develop intellectual property arrangements in order to ensure that these techniques are available to the whole breeding sector at fair commercial conditions.
This is particularly important for patents on methods of detecting diseases such as mad cow disease. In such situations, it would seem necessary to make adjustments to the patent system, which could rely upon a compulsory licensing mechanism tailored to this problem of broad patents.
