b'fied the 1991 Act of the UPOV Conventiontion and the extension of protection tosolutions is necessary, a complete rede-(Canada, Costa Rica, United States,harvested material. sign of the IPR system might be desirable.Panama, Peru, Dominican RepublicAs regards the protection of biotech- I am completely in favor of this second and St. Vincent and the Grenadines)nological inventions, there are no excep- option. The newest UPOV Act is now 31 and eleven have ratified the 1978 UPOVtions in the respective legislations of Latinyears old and plant breeding has changed Convention (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,America that neither plant varieties norcompletely in this period. Patents, on the Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico,any living substance existing in nature isother hand, were not designed and devel-Nicaragua, Paraguay, Trinidad andpatentable subject matter.oped to protect living matter.Tobago, and Uruguay). But what is the scope of patentabilityAs I have expressed in one of my A first conclusion would seem to indi- of living matter is a highly controversialbooks, today, the innovation and scientific cate a sort of north/south regional divi- issue. In this respect, there is probablyand technical development of modern sion, with Canada and the United States,no more illustrative example than theplant varieties (which are novel, distinct, in the north, adhering to UPOV 1991, andlegislation of Argentina. In this country,uniform, and stable), including the devel-a large part of the entire south adheringthe patent law does not consider patent- opment of beneficial microorganisms, to UPOV 1978.able subject matter to be living substancethe access to and use of plant genetic But this is a mistaken assessment. Apre-existing in nature. By default, then,resources, and the development of bio-very important part of the countries thatall living matter not pre-existing in naturetechnological inventions, are regulated at have ratified the 1978 UPOV Conventionshould be patentable subject matter if itthe international, regional, and national have national legislations that have takencomplies with all the regular patentabilitylevels. This regulation is in the form of several concepts and criteria from UPOVrequirements.many treaties, conventions, protocols, 1991 (such is the case, for example, ofHowever, the regulatory decree ofinternational agreements, and other Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay) and therethe law established something differentregional and domestic rules. This complex are others whose national legislation isand prevents the patenting of plants,set of rules has resulted in challenges to completely in line with the 1991 UPOVeven if they are not pre-existing in nature,make global interpretations, due to over-Convention (for example, Bolivia, Ecuadorwhich is contrary to the scope of the law.lapping, gaps, ambiguities, contradictions, and Peru, all countries together withLater, two patenting guidelines furtherand lack of consistency. The big picture is Colombia that are part of the Andeannarrowed the exclusion, and a patenteven more complex, as a series of scientific Pact). can only be granted to an artificial DNAdevelopments applied in plant breeding Moving towards UPOV 1991 is a must,molecule in isolation. So remarkable isin generalespecially in gene-editing but the experience we have in Latinthis example that it should be noted that,techniqueshave rendered these interna-Americawith the paradigmatic case ofwhen such an isolated DNA moleculetional regulatory frameworks obsolete.Chile in the first placeis that adherenceis inserted into a plant for its intendedMy conception, that has been pub-to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Conventionpurpose, i.e., when it has an "industriallished in Fostering Innovation for is extremely difficult. Three currentsapplication" (one of the mandatory crite- Agriculture 4.0A comprehensive Plant converge at this point that have nullifiedria for patentability), the patent ceases toGermplasm System, Springer Nature all attempts; there is a significant lackbe effective. Switzerland, 2019, is a cooperative game of knowledge about the theory of PlantIt is not difficult to imagine all the chal- theory-based proposal for a binding Breeders\' Rights, a widespread confu- lenges faced by patent legislations wheninternational convention which would sion between Plant Breeders\' Rights andthe subject matter to be patented will besupersede all other conventions, trea-Patents and an alarming ideologization ofa gene pre-existing in nature but edited inties, national and regional legislation the discussion. such a way as to alter its original function. covering native varieties and traditional In my opinion, the roots of the prob- developments, heterogeneous plant lem are closely related to the low levelSW: As we continue forward withvarieties, microorganisms, biotechnologi-of knowledge on the subject, and, in thisnew innovations, what are youcal inventions, plant genetic resources, regard, it is worth mentioning that the sub- hoping to see in the future ofand biosafety regulation. In short, an ject of intellectual property rights is practi- plant breeding innovation, IP andinnovative approach, offering a compre-cally not part of the regular curriculum ofregulations? Whats your perfecthensive framework regarding intellectual any professional career in Latin America. world look like?property, biosafety, and business regula-Therefore, what should be done inMR: Dr. Michael Kock who is senior vicetion and covers all types of germplasm. If each country is to try to incorporate intopresident, Innovation Catalyst at INARIapplied, the system is expected to yield national plant variety protection legisla- and a referent of the global seed industry,higher productivity rates in crops and tion, some concepts, and criteria of UPOVsustain that while a continuous alignmentimproved food biodiversity, as well as a 1991, such as the essentially derivedof the patent and PBR system in combi- new paradigm based on the promotion of variety, the scope of the farmer\'s excep- nation with further evolving seed industryinnovation for Agriculture 4.0.SWDECEMBER 2022SEEDWORLD.COM /115'