Patents and “native traits”: circumventing the limits of European law
For over a decade, European institutions have sought to prevent the patenting of plants and traits obtained exclusively through essentially biological processes. However, patents relating to “native traits” continue to indirectly cover these traits through claims relating to associated technical features. The recent deregulation of GMOs/NGTs raises concerns about the risk of these patents extending to plants derived from traditional breeding and propagation – which are not patentable – and which therefore naturally contain such “native traits”.
