Mechanisms for Protection of Agricultural Innovations in India
DESIDOC Bull. Inf. Technol.
Mechanisms for Protection of Agricultural Innovations in India
R. Kalpana Sastry E-mail: 0
0 National Academy of Agricultural Research Management Rajendranagar , Hyderabad-560 030
The paper discusses various conventions/treaties/agreements affecting agriculture innovation systems, and the legal mechanisms existing in India for such innovations. It raises concerns on how the policy environment and governance is affecting the agriculture at large, and agri-based products in particular. It also discusses the role of various agencies including public, private and NGOs in India in protecting vast biodiversity and the measures they need to take to meet the challenges related to issue of IP protection related to agriculture in the country.
Agriculture innovation; CBD; CITES; IPPC; TRIPS; UPOV; ITPGRFA
1. INTRODUCTION
Distinct paradigm shifts in agricultural
systems are progressively reorienting
mechanisms and mode of agricultural research
and innovation systems all over the world
including India. Encouraging results and broad
commercial prospects are catalysing forces1
for new players including private sector to
be part of this. However, the entry of new
players and opening of markets in global
arena has also brought new equations on
owning of intellectual property (IP) and resultant
difficulties in accessing inputs for research.
The role of intellectual property rights (IPRs)
in international trade, the global economy
and international relation has grown considerably,
especially since 1970s2. IPR-protected products,
technologies and services are major exports
and rights manifesting in form of licenses
to use the patented processes, products,
designs, trademarks or copyrights. All these
developments necessitated legal protection
mechanisms to be in place3.
Over the last few decades, several
agreements at various international fora have
been negotiated and adopted in order to
enhance and better the livelihood, and to
help the nations achieve the targets set in
the millennium development goals. Some of
these are of direct relevance to sustainable
agriculture, enhanced trade and ensuring better
environment. The agreements include Convention
of Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992; Convention
on Trade in Endangered Species (CITES),
1973; International Plant Protection Convention
(IPPC), 1997; International Union for the Protection
of Plant Varieties (UPOV), 1978 and 1991;
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, 2000; Trade
Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),
1994; and the International Treaty on Plant
Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
(ITPGRFA), 2001. These international
conventions/treaties/agreements have
comprehensive provisions for conservation
and sustainable use of, and access to genetic
resources and for sharing of benefits derived
from their use4. Concurrently, new emerging
regimes in protection mechanisms for innovations
at the global levels are impacting the access,
transfer, and use of biological/genetical resources
for furthering the research and developmental
activities in all fields of agriculture (Table 1).
All these agreements have thus led several
national governments, including India, to put
in place the commensurate and compliant
mechanisms and instruments. Some of the
legal instruments passed by the Indian Parliament
as part of compliance to the TRIPS include:
The Patents Act, 1970 (No. 39 of 1970);
The Patents (Amendment) Act, 1999
(No. 17 of 1999); Patents (Amendment)
Act, 2002 (No. 38 of 2002); The Patents
(Amendment) Act, 2005 (No. 15 of 2005);
The Geographical Indications of Goods
(Registration and Protection) Act, 1999; and
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers
Rights Act, 2001 [PPV and FR Act) (No. 53
of 2001)]. Apart from these, the Government
of India also enacted an umbrella legislation
called the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (No.18
of 2003). Consequently, the operational
mechanisms and setting up of the regulatory
bodies is now in process. That the mechanisms
are in place indicate towards creating an
enabling environment of actualising and ensuring
complementation for positive synergies towards
building strong IPs in products or processes
(Table 2).
It is important to recognise that a productive
and sustainable agriculture sector is critical
to achieve economic growth and poverty
reduction. Farmers and professional scientists
continuously use the native biological sources,
often recombine them as inputs to create
new varieties or new processes based on
traditional knowledge to combat biotic agents
in order to sustain productivity as economic
and environmental conditions change5. These
researches are often supplemented by the
contribution of farmers or grassroot innovators.
Thus, the primary inputs for the agricultural
systems are from the very biodiversity of
which agrobiodiversity is a part6. This part
feeds, nurtures people and includes genetic
resources (GR) for food and agriculture, livestock,
fish and non-domesticated resources f (...truncated)