Agricultural SMEs and Protection of New Varieties of Plants

Professor Michael BlakeneyQueen Mary Intellectual Property Research

InstituteM.Blakeney@qmipri.org

Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

CG Centre Collections• CIAT –beans, cassava• CIMMYT –maize, wheat• CIP –potato and other Andean tubers• ICARDA –legumes, wheat• ICRISAT –pulses, groundnut• IITA –Bamberra groundnut, cassava,

banana, cowpea• ILRI –forages• IRRI –rice• WAF (ICRAF) –trees• WARDA -rice

CGIAR Biological Assets• Parent germplasm (individual plant varieties)• biological tools (eg selectable markers to

determine transformation of plant cells) • advanced mapping populations, near isogenic

lines, introgression lines, mutants, advanced lines from conventional breeding, Inbred lines for hybrids, Transgenic lines

• enabling technologies • promoters that are used to control expression of

the gene in plants • gene silencing or regulating technologies that can

be used to suppress or modify gene expression in plants.

Recommendations on IP Management in the CG System:

• Identification of useful assets (IP audits)– Centre IP– Third party IP

• Securing ownership of IP by agricultural institutes– Constitutional power to own IP– Contracts with employees– Contracts with visitors

• Formulation of IP Policy• Establishment of IP Management

Structure• IP audits