The government wants to introduce patent rights for plants as part of an effort to promote the development of the nation’s biotechnology industry, but is facing opposition from some farmers, environmental protection activists and academics.
Wang Mei-hua (王美花), -director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office, recently said she was concerned the office’s draft amendment to the Patent Act (專利法) that would introduce plant patents may not pass the legislature this year.
The amendment was screened by the relevant legislative committees in April, but failed to proceed to the second reading because of disagreement over a major revision to the 24th article, which states that animals, plants and essential biological processes key to the reproduction of animals or plants are not entitled to the invention patent.
Wang said her office hopes the bill, which seeks to amend 108 articles, add 39 new ones and remove 15, will clear the legislature in the new session that will start in the middle of this month.
However, she said, after hearing the many opposing voices at a public hearing on the amendment last month, she fears it may not be passed soon.
At the Aug. 16 hearing, Warren Kuo (郭華仁), a professor of agronomy at the National Taiwan University who specializes in seed technology and biotech law, said that the introduction of patent rights for plants was unnecessary because plants are already included under the protection of variety rights.
If patent rights for plants are adopted, local farmers, as well as small and medium-sized seed -breeding companies, will not be able to use special plant traits in the research and development of new breeds without worrying they may be violating patent rights, Kuo said.
Individuals or small seed breeding companies will not be able to find unique genes in plants that determine plant traits, only big multinational enterprises will be able to so, Kuo said.
Adopting patent rights for plants will eventually lead to big companies’ monopolizing useful plant traits, which would prevent small breeding and research institutes, as well as farmers, from using them to create new varieties, Kuo said.
Taiwan Orchid Growers Association president Kao Chi-ching (高啟清) said the nation’s orchid industry would not be able to break into the international flora market without the help of the diverse research and development studies undertaken by small and medium-sized breeding companies in Taiwan.
He said adopting patent rights for plants would only benefit big businesses in the field of seed breeding, not the numerous small-scale breeders in Taiwan.
In response, Wang said that patent rights and variety rights are two different types of protections that can co-exist. Many countries, such as the US, Japan and some European nations, all have the two systems to ensure full protection of inventions involving plants, she said.
She added that variety rights only protect the appearance of a plant, such as the purple color of a species of flower, but patents are used to protect the breeding techniques, which means protection of researchers’ hard work, she said.
There are currently 70 biotech departments and institutes in universities nationwide and every year, about 10,000 graduates enter the biotech industry, Wang said.
Without plant patent rights, the country’s protection of intellectual property rights would be incomplete, she said. Furthermore, in the absence of a good protection system, foreign companies would not be willing to invest in the country’s biotech sector, she said.
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