The Use of Agrobiodiversity for Plant Improvement and the Intellectual Property Paradigm: Institutional Fit and Legal Tools for Mass Selection, Conventional and Molecular Plant Breeding

Life Sciences, Society and Policy 2014, 10:14 doi:10.1186/s40504-014-0014-7

29 Pages Posted: 2 Jul 2014

See all articles by Fulya Batur

Fulya Batur

Catholic University Louvain, Center for the Philosophy of Law, Biodiversity Governance Unit

Tom Dedeurwaerdere

Catholic University of Louvain - Centre for the Philosophy of Law

Date Written: May 27, 2014

Abstract

Focused on the impact of stringent intellectual property mechanisms over the uses of plant agricultural biodiversity in crop improvement, the article delves into a systematic analysis of the relationship between institutional paradigms and their technological contexts of application, identified as mass selection, controlled hybridisation, molecular breeding tools and transgenics. While the strong property paradigm has proven effective in the context of major leaps forward in genetic engineering, it faces a systematic breakdown when extended to mass selection, where innovation often displays a collective nature. However, it also creates partial blockages in those innovation schemes rested between on-farm observation and genetic modification, i.e. conventional plant breeding and upstream molecular biology research tools. Neither overly strong intellectual property rights, nor the absence of well delineated protection have proven an optimal fit for these two intermediary socio-technological systems of cumulative incremental innovation. To address these challenges, the authors look at appropriate institutional alternatives which can create effective incentives for in situ agrobiodiversity conservation and the equitable distribution of technologies in plant improvement, using the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement, the liability rules set forth in patents or plant variety rights themselves (in the form of farmers’, breeders’ and research exceptions), and other ad hoc reward regimes.

Keywords: agrobiodiversity, intellectual property, plant innovation

Suggested Citation

Batur, Fulya and Dedeurwaerdere, Tom, The Use of Agrobiodiversity for Plant Improvement and the Intellectual Property Paradigm: Institutional Fit and Legal Tools for Mass Selection, Conventional and Molecular Plant Breeding (May 27, 2014). Life Sciences, Society and Policy 2014, 10:14 doi:10.1186/s40504-014-0014-7, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2461289

Fulya Batur (Contact Author)

Catholic University Louvain, Center for the Philosophy of Law, Biodiversity Governance Unit ( email )

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348
Belgium

Tom Dedeurwaerdere

Catholic University of Louvain - Centre for the Philosophy of Law ( email )

Place Montesquieu, 3
Louvain-la-Neuve, 1348
Belgium

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