The protection of intellectual property

The Protection of Intellectual Property
The improvement of plants is an activity which demands considerable long-term investment. Governments are continuously disengaging themselves from this activity, leaving the responsibility to private enterprise, which then must be able to recover the cost of their investments and return a profit to investors. It is then necessary that the results of researchers' efforts be protected, as is the case with innovations developed in all technical and artistic domains.

The 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) furnishes a satisfying and appropriate system of protection for plant varieties. It is perfectly adapted to the protection of plants by safeguarding the legitimate interest of the breeder while leaving free access to genetic variability for the further work of variety creation.

This possibility, known as the "breeder exemption" should exist in all rights of protection of plant varieties. Any suppression or weakening of the protection of plant varieties would bring the disengagement of private enterprise in this sector with a very negative impact on agricultural development needed in the coming years. New funding by governments for this purpose is highly improbable.

The protection of genetic components is equally necessary but it must be limited to components themselves and not extended to the genome of the variety in its entirety. Such an extension would in fact prevent use of the genetic base in further selection work and would suppress the "breeder exemption."