Our industry 2014 - (Page 66)

  66   04 Technology in agriculture    Innovation and intellectual property   Intellectual property (IP) rights - such as patents and plant breeder's rights -   are established legal instruments that provide incentives for innovation in   agriculture: innovations such as improved crop protection chemistries and new   plant varieties that help farmers grow more while using fewer natural resources. Agricultural companies invest in research and development (R&D) to bring  forward new agricultural innovations that drive long-term agricultural productivity,  rural development and environmental sustainability. They do this with the belief  that such innovation needs to be encouraged, supported, and protected. As   is the case for any industry, the maintenance of IP rights is an essential basis for  innovation and progress. When it comes to an issue as fundamental   as food security, IP systems must be progressive and balanced in order to  stimulate continued innovation and to encourage the broad dissemination and  use of beneficial technologies. Patents and other forms of IP protection provide incentives to invest in R&D  processes, which are increasingly more resource intensive, lengthy and risky, and  which require continuous technological innovation. R&D investment typically is  around 10% of company sales, which make agriculture one of the most R&D  intensive industries. The breeding industry continues to undergo a rapid technification to develop   new plant varieties faster and more efficiently. Modern technologies and   innovative processes are now used at every step of the breeding cycle. These  include gene banks to access genetic diversity; marker-assisted genotyping to  help in combining the best characteristics; information technology to help  understand critical correlations between genes; metabolomics to support the  characterization of interesting traits. The outcome of the R&D process can easily  be copied by competitors and growers, which is why IP protection is important.  Without some form of enforceable commercial protection, there would be little  incentive to make such large and risky investments. Two different and complementary IP systems - Plant Variety Protection (PVP)   and patents - are used to protect plant innovations. PVP protects a new plant  variety on the basis of its phenotypical characteristics, and is suitable for varieties  developed by empirical (traditional) breeding efforts. The term of a PVP differs  between countries and depends on plant species, but is generally between 15  and 25 years. While the PVP rights prevent unauthorized commercial copying of  the variety, the laws contain a statutory breeders' exemption that allows a variety  to be used for further breeding. This recognizes that new plant varieties are  always "created" from existing plants.  For new traits derived from highly technical processes such as genetic   modification or complex marker assisted breeding, patents are a better form   of IP protection because they provide more robust means to recoup huge  research investments. Patents are also used to protect crop protection   innovations. The prerequisites for grant of a patent are: ■■ novelty ■■ inventive step or non-obviousness ■■ industrial applicability   Two IP systems protect plant research and innovation - PVP and patents 

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Our industry 2014

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