Times Agricultural Journal

Of the several issues Rice that arose at the Uruguay Round of GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs) negotiations, the most vexed issue for India was the TRIPs text. In addition to product patent in pharmaceuticals, the text demands Intellectual Property Rights (IRPs) in plant varieties and seeds. It mandates protection of plant varieties and seeds either by patents or by an effective sui generis system.

The interest in the seed industry has its roots in the increasing market potential for improved seeds throughout the world. The seed markets in most of the countries consists basically of two segments – the hybrid seed market and open pollinated variety seed market. Giant seed transnational corporations are concentrated in the former and domestic seed industries in the latter. With the advent of modern crop varieties and sophisticated biotechnology, the world seed market started expanding rapidly as did the role of the private sector in providing hybrid seeds. Consequently, there arose the demand for protection of plant varieties either by patents or in the form of Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBRs). In 1985, the first patent on plant varieties was granted. Thus, patenting of varieties of seeds/plant is of more recent origin when compared to PBRs which were known slightly earlier.

Turmeric Traditionally, most national patent systems do not provide patents for micro-organisms, plant varieties, seeds, etc. The reasons for doing so are many. Patents are given for inventions and not discoveries. Plants are not inventions. They are products of nature. They, therefore, do not qualify for grant of patents. Further, as methods of breeding in plants are not sufficiently reproducible, they do not satisfy the norms for patenting. It is also difficult to identify a patented plant/seed because of natural genetic drift and mutation. Moreover, as agricultural discoveries can give rise to derivatives, multiple royalties can occur on a single product. Above all, the only way to prove infringement is by comparing the entire genetic make-ups which is exorbitantly costly for poor countries like India.

It is no wonder then that the clause on patenting of seeds and naturally occurring genes was one of the most controversial provision in the TRIPs text. By sanctifying patenting of plant varieties and seeds, the text adversely affects the availability of seeds, biofertilisers and biopesticides to poor farmers at affordable prices. Once the seed is patented, the farmer loses his right to modify, retain or use his seeds. He becomes dependent on the patent-holder for his seed requirement. One may recall that in the United States, the price of soybean seeds doubled in less than a year as a result of patenting. Similarly, when W R Grace obtained a patent on a product which required the use of the pesticidal extract azadirachin from the Indian neem tree, the price of neem seed escalated from Rs 300 per ton to Rs 4,000 per ton.