Storyline

Director D. Termin of the Agrocentre for Science and Knowledge (ASK) has a brief telephone conversation with Permanent Secretary Reginald U. Later of the Ministry of Agriculture. From this he learns that Askalon has joined the WTO and thus has to implement the TRIPS Agreement. The Ministry of Agriculture has been put under pressure by the Ministry of Trade to go along with Askalon’s ‘official’ standpoint in the WTO negotiations.

D. Termin understands from Mr. Later that the TRIPS agreement on intellectual property rights (IPRs) includes the possibility to exempt plant varieties from patentability, but that a special type of protection needs to be developed in that case (Article 27.3b). Mr Later hopes that this time another ministry is not going to make his life unnecessarily difficult and that this can be arranged within the agricultural sector. However, the Ministry of Justice is confused this Article 27.3(b) and its sui generis option - an option which is to be reviewed and which is still pending due to the failure of the Doha round of negotiations. Uneasy about the complications that this will cause, the Ministry of Justice would actually prefer to bring every invention under one uniform (patent) system. For that reason, the Ministry of Agriculture is contacted for advice. Mr. Reg. U. Later is not very sure about these legal details and asks Barbara Reed for advice. Because she has been invited to a regional meeting, organised by UPOV, she should know about these things.

It becomes clear that Askalon has different options: provide both patents and breeder's rights for plant varieties, as is done by the USA, Japan and Australia; to follow the example of European and many other countries where plant breeder’s rights are operational and, based on any of the UPOV conventions and to exclude patenting of varieties, or to develop a unique national system, as several Asian countries have done. Secondly, Askalon has to decide which types of biotechnology inventions should fall under the patent regime, what scope of protection it allows, etc. Since ASK has been granted a modest research grant from GCP to carry out marker-analysis on local maize and rice varieties and to build some capacity on marker-assisted breeding, also the patent system may be relevant for ASK.

D. Termin asks Barbara to find out what the implications are and whether there are any details to consider. Barbara digs into the literature and finds out that it is a bit more complex and that serious consideration would be given to the different options.