For IP professionals
This is the portal for professionals working in the field of intellectual property. Here you'll find direct access to all necessary resources.
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News
01.07.2024 | Law and policy, Copyright
New directive for the supervision of the collective rights management organisations
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Certainty for plant breeders and researchers
Research and development is an ongoing process in the field of plants. Breeders cultivate new plant varieties that are more resistant to heat or pests, require less water or contain more nutrients, for example. To do so, they use existing varieties, which they cross, mate or modify using a (new) technical process. These varieties may be subject to patents that must not be infringed.
Although plant varieties cannot be patented, it is entirely possible to patent certain breeding processes and certain characteristics of a plant that are not limited to one variety, e.g. resistance to mildew or rotting or a reduced gluten content in grains. To be patented, these characteristics must have been created by microbiological or other technical processes. This includes the use of modern technologies such as the genetic scissors ‘CRISPR-Cas9’, a molecular biological process involving cutting a DNA strand at a specific location and precisely editing the DNA.
Licence necessary
All plant varieties can freely be used for further breeding. However, if a patented characteristic is also in the newly bred variety, the breeder must obtain permission from the patent owner if it wants to commercialise the new variety. Permission is usually granted in the form of a licence.
Unfortunately, nowadays it is almost impossible to know if a variety is affected by a patent: patented characteristics are not indicated on the seed packaging. Moreover, a patent search cannot definitively determine which plant varieties have a patented characteristic.
Clarity about patent rights with respect to seeds is crucial for variety breeders in Switzerland. The topic is also significant for food security and thus for all of us. Therefore, a new legal solution is required that creates transparency simply and affordably.
News
20.08.2024 | IPI, Dienstleistungen - OnlineServices, Dienstleistungen - Datenbanken und Verzeichnisse
Swissreg is to be completely modernised
...more
01.07.2024 | Law and policy, Copyright
New directive for the supervision of the collective rights management organisations
...more
27.05.2024 | Patents, Media release, Law and policy, Conference
New international treaty on intellectual property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge adopted
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Events
19.01.2023 | Law and policy, Event
Conference on Intellectual Property & Sustainability at the University of Geneva
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