Intellectual Property in Plant Breeding

Abstract

This chapter examines and critically reviews intellectual protection in plant breeding from a legal and economic perspective. The first part analyses the main intellectual property rights applied to plant breeding innovations, patent and breeder’s rights, while the second part offers a justification of intellectual property as applied to plant breeding. It contributes to the debate on patentability of biological matter by elaborating a discussion on the issue of ‘patent quality’ stemming from the lax application of the patentability standards as well as on ethical and moral aspects of patents in plant breeding. It also introduces key concepts for understanding the problem addressed by intellectual property protection in this field, such as the distinction between ‘plants’ and ‘plant varieties’ as well as the concept and implications of different modalities of a breeder’s exception to patent rights.