News

In Europe, patents on living organisms are regulated by the European Patent Convention (EPC), which governs the European Patent Office (EPO), and the European Union (EU) Directive 98/44 on ‘biotechnological inventions’. In June 2023, the EU also adopted its own legislation on unitary patents, which applies to all fields of technology. The patentability of ‘new […]

Originally introduced as a new scientific concept, a semantic UFO has recently come to dominate all debates on seeds, biodiversity and intellectual property. Some call it DSI (Digital Sequence Information), while others call it GSD (Genetic Sequence Data). A flying object because it circulates freely in the cyberspace in the form of virtual signals picked […]

In a dossier entitled “Micro and nano technologies for healthcare” published by CEA-Leti2 , we can read: “the emergence of disruptive technologies is transforming the pharmaceutical industry“. These so-called “disruptive” technologies are mainly the result of NBIC convergence – nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science(s) – in a cross-fertilization dynamic that has been underway […]

The various articles have highlighted the complexity of intellectual property on plants, its instability, its contradictions, its past and potential developments, and challenges. One thing is certain, however: since 1980, the field of patents on living organisms has expanded and deepened considerably. It now covers all living organisms, including the human species (see p.16). Subject […]

In a previous article, Inf’OGM explained that the scope of patent claims on living organisms can be too broad, artificial and complex [1]. Yet the agro-industry uses such patents as a legal weapon to threaten and prosecute various forms of competition. In general, companies use their patent rights to oppose “horizontal competitors” (other companies) in order, […]

After mosquitoes, the spearhead of the Oxitec company, it is now the turn of agricultural parasites to be targeted. Oxitec now aims to reduce the population of a tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, which infests livestock just about everywhere in the world. Oxitec has just received a new grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of […]

  Almost seven years have passed since the publication of our issue « Saving cultivated biodiversity » (No. 141, October 2016). Since then, the degradation of biodiversity, i.e. the entire diversity of living organisms, has accelerated, as evidenced by recent reports from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (better known by its acronym IPBES), […]

  The collapse of biodiversity (both wild and cultivated) is essentially due to human activities. Among these, industrial agriculture, with its range of fertilisers, pesticides and other harmful practices, plays a key role.   The collapse of biodiversity was once again highlighted at the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) at the Convention on Biological […]

Patents and plant breeders’ rights (PBR) are two types of intellectual property right. Both have a major impact on both cultivated and wild biodiversity. Certain intellectual property rights (IPRs) affect cultivated biodiversity, agriculture, but also wild biodiversity, which provides genetic resources [1] such as stevia or the neem tree [2]. These are patents and, for plant crops, […]