Allred, James --- "Transgenic plants" [2017] ELECD 811; in Matthews, Duncan; Zech, Herbert (eds), "Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and the Life Sciences" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 179

Book Title: Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and the Life Sciences

Editor(s): Matthews, Duncan; Zech, Herbert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781783479443

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Transgenic plants

Author(s): Allred, James

Number of pages: 18

Abstract/Description:

This chapter offers an overview of patent issues as they relate to transgenic plants. Specifically, the chapter discusses the patent protection available to transgenic plants, circumstances that exhaust that protection, the extent of that protection against inadvertent growers of transgenic plants and recent attempts to permit the emergence of generic copies of transgenic plants once patent coverage expires. It will discuss patentability broadly across many nations, but focuses discussion of the remaining topics on those jurisdictions where transgenic crops are commercially cultivated, particularly in Canada and the United States. Before exploring the patent issues, readers may find helpful a brief discussion of the terminology involved. A transgenic plant is a plant in which at least one gene from a separate species has been artificially introduced.These plants are frequently referred to as genetically modified organisms, a term that has been criticized as both under- and over-inclusive.This chapter will use the term transgenic to specify plants containing whole genes from other species inserted using biotechnology techniques that target a small number of pre-specified genes for transfer. A single trait, whether encoded by means of a single gene or multiple genes, is often referred to as a ‘genetic event’ or simply ‘event’.Thus, it is common to speak of patent protection or regulatory clearance for a single event, which necessarily encodes a single trait, whether by a single gene or multiple genes.