navigating the patent maze

According to the etc group in a recent communiqué, the “gene giants” - BASF, Monsanto, Bayer AG, Syngenta, and DuPont - have grabbed up the so-called “climate ready” genes in a total of 55 patent families. Many of the patents are said to be related to transcription factors that control stress responses, and to the proteins and genes encoding proteins that affect stress tolerance. In a discussion of several specific patents, ETC alleges that the claims encompass many plant species and, based on this, concludes that the patents are dangerously broad.

Like many reports of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) with political agendas, the etc group report is a mix of facts, mis-statements, and analysis that does not fully factor in patent law and procedures. Unfortunately, reports like this are splashed in headline news. The Washington Post featured the report in a story run on 13 May 2008. The story “Firms Seek Patents on ‘Climate Ready’ Altered Crops” was actually somewhat more balanced than its headline suggests, but I suspect that the headline has the most impact. What was still lacking in the story was a viewpoint from an expert in the patent field.

In the attached file, I’ve attempted to bring patent knowledge to bear on the report’s facts and conclusions. The basic finding is that etc group’s doomsday scenario is unwarranted. Visions of gene grabbing and holding farmers hostage are way overblown. At most, patents will be granted in only a handful of countries in the world; one major reason for this is that quite a number of countries do not allow patents on gene sequences or transformed plants. A positive fallout from the patent applications is that the sequences of the genes are published - and are free to use in countries where no patent on the gene sequence exists.

Overview patent landscapes, like this one by the etc group, are helpful for setting out the lay of the land. Conclusions about the impact of patents however, require more detailed investigation and expertise than the etc group demonstrated. In fact, we find that a detailed analysis leads to very different conclusions. In my view, it’s important - even critical - that we do not blindly accept the conclusions, but apply our knowledge to careful analysis and spreading the word.

Read or download etc climate gene commentary

The icon is Maclyn McCarty.  McCarty, along with Oswald Avery and Colin MacLoed, set the scientific world afire in the mid-1940s when they discovered that DNA was the genetic material.  Surprisingly, this seminal discovery, which Joshua Lederberg has called the "pivotal discovery of  20th Century biology" was never recognized by the Nobel committee.  We take so much for granted about DNA’s role in transmitting genetic traits that it is hard to fathom a time when the general belief was that proteins were responsible.  (Read more about McCarty.)

In the words of Thomas Kuhn (Structure of a Scientific Revolution, a book that should be required reading by all scientists and patent lawyers), the discovery shifted the paradigms of science.  Kuhn’s belief is that very little scientific discovery is "revolutionary"; rather, most scientific work operates under accepted paradigms and only occasionally is there a shift and re-formulation of the paradigms.  A conclusion of this theory is that scientific advancement is not linear, but moves in spurts (rarely) and in dribs and drabs (mostly). 

(Read more and I’ll explain how I think this relates to patents.)

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This year’s prestigious food prize has been jointly awarded to Professor Yuan Longping of China, Director-General of the China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center in Changsha, Hunan, China and to Dr. Monty Jones of Sierra Leone, former senior rice breeder at the West Africa Rice Development Center (WARDA), presently Executive Secretary, Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), in Accra, Ghana.

From the press release at the World Food Prize:

In announcing these recipients, World Food Prize President, Ambassador Kenneth Quinn, lauded both scientists for their “breakthrough scientific achievements which have significantly increased food security for millions of people from Asia to Africa.” The Ambassador added that it was particularly fitting that these two pioneering rice breeders be honored during the United Nations International Year of Rice, the crop identified as the staple diet of more than three billion people around the world.

The World Food Prize, created in 1986 by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr Norman E. Borlaug, is the world’s foremost award inspiring and recognizing breakthrough contributions to improving human development by increasing the quality, quantity, and availability of food in the world.

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