Biopiracy

In 2024, digital sequence information (DSI) derived from genetic resources was at the heart of international negotiations. Discussions focused mainly on the sharing of the benefits generated by the industrial and commercial use of this DSI, and the mechanisms required to implement it. These developments could redefine governance and influence the future regulation of DSI, but persistent differences between countries are holding back progress.

Can biological diversity escape any risk of biopiracy when part of it is digitised in computers? The answer depends on ongoing negotiations within international bodies. In the meantime, an international project to sequence the genome of all known eukaryotic species is making progress. Financed indirectly by players in the IT and artificial intelligence fields, this project even hopes to be able to bypass certain rules thanks to more powerful working tools.

What are the links between new techniques of genetic modification, digitization of genetic sequences information and patents? Inf’OGM publishes here an analysis presented in June 2024 at a regional workshop organized by the African Center for Biodiversity, in Durban (South Africa). It was written by Guy Kastler, representative of the international farmers’ organization La Via Campesina at various ITPGRFA and CBD meetings. 

According to companies, GMO products of genetic modification techniques are patentable because they are considered “inventions”. But to obtain these patents, the European Patent Office (EPO) require from the applicants to be clear about the techniques used for obtaining the organisms or genetic sequences covered by their patent. This obligation shows that, for the EPO, it is possible to differentiate, e.g. between GMOs obtained by patentable mutagenesis techniques on the one hand, and GMOs obtained by other techniques or any other organisms present in nature, on the other hand.