expert corner
gets integrated with
the plant and results
in a transgenic plant
expressing transgenic
trait. Transgenic plant
varieties get protection
only under the PPVFR
Act as plant varieties
and seeds of such plant
varieties are excluded
items in Patents Act,
1970.
With the amendment
of Section 3(c) and
incorporation of 3(j)
in the Patents Act
in 2002, the plant,
varieties and seeds
including transgenics
have gone out of
the purview of the
Patents Act. They get
IPR protection only
under the PPVFR Act.
However, the interest
of the patentee,
who contributed for
development of a
transgenic trait, is
protected under the
PPVFR Act and the
patentee can make
his claim for benefit
sharing from all
the breeders whose
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BioVoiceNews | August 2017
varieties express the
trait, through the
PPVFR Authority,
which is a statutory
body vested with the
powers to determine
the benefit sharing
amount based on the
commercial value, the
said transgenic trait
conferred to the new
variety. By vesting the
powers in the PPVFR
Authority to determine
the benefit share,
creation of monopoly
in agriculture is
prevented.
In this manner, there
is adequate protection
given to a transgenic
trait in the Act. Any
transgenic variety
will contain several
agronomical traits like
yield potential, fibre
quality or resistance
to other pests and
diseases, tolerance to
abiotic stresses like
drought, etc., apart
from the transgenic
trait. A patentee for a
method of production
of transgenic plant for
one or two particular
traits therefore cannot
be allowed to restrict
the use of all traits
in a transgenic plant
variety developed by
the breeder or Seed
Company, on the basis
of such one or two
transgenic traits. That
way, by incorporating
one patented gene
sequence across all
the varieties of a crop,
the patentee can claim
patent rights in all the
varieties, which would
be catastrophic to the
Indian agriculture.
Also, such paradigm
of primacy to the
transgenic trait also
undermines the Plant
breeding efforts by
Breeders, Indian
public sector and
private sector and
farmers who also breed
and conserve genetic
diversity.
Balanced
framework
Further, it is also to be
noted that by virtue