DISSERTATION RESEARCH
Intellectual Property Rights and Agriculture Sector
Prepared by:
NAME
LL.M. (Sem. - IV)
Roll No.
Group – III
Intellectual Property Rights
YEAR
under guidance of:
PROF. NAME
Professor in Charge
Department of Law
University of Mumbai
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
First of all, I wish to thank my Parents, Wife and my Police Department superior officer's Assistant police commissioner, NAME _________-and NAME __________ for their unconditional support, care and understanding they had extended during the whole period of this research. I also wish to thank Prof. ________________ for her guidance which helped me to shape up this dissertation research work.
I would also like to thank my class mates for their valuable comments and suggestions and also to those people whose views and answers were very valuable and a driving force towards the conclusion of this research work. The assistance provided by the staff at the University Library for providing the necessary reference material can’t be ignored. I am indebted to all of them, without whom this work would have never been into existence.
Mumbai NAME
YER LL.M. (Sem. IV)
Group III
Intellectual Property Rights
Roll. No. ____
PREFACE
Intellectual Property Law is a very broad category of law which includes Patents, Designs, Trade Marks and Copyrights, Confidential Information, Trade secrets and know-how. Intellectual Property plays a very crucial role in development of every field of human Endeavour. The rapid Agriculture Development has brought about due recognitions to inventions and need has arise to protect such inventions in all forms and at every cost.
In this dissertation research carried through the Study method, I would like to deal with ''The Intellectual Property Rights and Agriculture Sector''. The basic principle behind this subject form protection, violation and security in agriculture sector.
Also critical evaluation of any practical solution possible, to any problems faced in agriculture sector which may enable the authority undertaking the process protecting to novel inventions ,trade and culture of the Agriculture sector.
Mumbai
YEAR
NAME
LL.M. (Sem. IV) Group III
Intellectual Property Rights
Roll. No.__
DECLARATION
As required by the University Rules, I wish to state that the work embodied in this Doctrinal Research titled ''The Intellectual Property Rights and Agriculture Sector'' is based on the research and study carried out by me under the guidance of PROF __________- in charge at the Department of Law, University of Mumbai.
This work has not been submitted anywhere else except to the Law Department at the University of Mumbai. Utmost care has been taken to avoid any discrepancies, grammatical or typographical errors.
Mumbai
YER LL.M. (Sem. IV)
Group III
Intellectual Property Rights
Roll. No.____
NAME
Professor-in-Charge
Department of Law
University Name
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No.
Title 1
Acknowledgement 2
Preface 3
Declaration 4
Table of Contents 5 to 9
Ø CHAPTER - I ---------- Page no. 10 to 38
INTRODUCTION.
Ø CHAPTER - II ---------- Page no. 39 to 69
· IPRs RELEVANT TO AGRICULTURE:
· The Paris Convention
· The TRIPS agreement
· The GATS agreement
· WTO have an Agreement on Agriculture
· WTO Agreement on agriculture a background paper
Ø CHAPTER – III ------------- Page no. 70 to 123
FOOD SECURITY-AN IMPORTANT NON-TRADE CONCERN
· Issues of Interest to Developing countries
· The Adventure of WTO
· Significance of Trade Secrets in agriculture
· Position in India
· Protection of Confidential Information/ Trade secret in the hand
of Employs
· Plant innovation: past and present 3.9.16 Alternative UPOV Body
· The rationale for plant variety protection
· The new UPOV - other features introduced by the 1991 Act
· More members, still the same club?
· Non-governmental organizations' observer status with UPOV
· UPOV as ‘effective’ sui generis system
· The salient features of COFAB
· The trips – CBD Linkage
· Recommendations
· The sui generis system
· Farmers rights related of Breed
Ø CHAPTER- IV ----------- Page no. 124 to147
SEED INDUSTRY POLICY, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, AND AGRICULTURE IN INDIA
· Importance of Farmer's Right to Sell Seed
· Biodiversity Policy / IPR Policy
· The Impact of Policy Reforms on Innovation in India’s Seed Industry
· What are the key factors behind the growth of India’s seed industry
More importantly
· Public policies, private investment and productivity growth
· Background: Maize, Pearl Millet, Rice, and Wheat in India
· Potential of Private Hybrids
· Possibilities of an Innovation Act for India
· IPR on biological material
· Exemption from fees
Ø CHAPTER- V -------------- Page no .148 to185
Implications Of WTO for Indian Agriculture:
· Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights System (TRIPS)
· Three permissible exceptions to the basic rule on patentability. :
· Methodology:
· The Bio safety Regulations
· Highlights of In5.19 Protection against bad seed
· Indian Plant Variety and Farmers’ Right Bill, 1999
· Findings and recommendations for change
· Implementation requirements
· Four options are consistent with the obligations in Article 27.3(b):
Ø CHAPTER-VI ------------- Page no 185 to208
GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATION
· The economic importance of 'Geographical Appellation'.
· Patents on Micro Organisms
· The impact of other IPR on Farmers’ Rights and Food Security
· Sui generis protection systems
· Geographical indication and IPR
· Relationship between farmers’ variety (FV) and GI
· Need protection for GI
· Registration
· The Indian GI act
· Rights of Action Against Passing-Off -
Ø CHAPTER – VII ------------- Page no.209 to 232
· THE CASE OF BASMATI RICE PATENT:
· THE CASE OF NEEM TREE PATENT
· THE CASE OF TURMERIC
· DARJEELING TEA PATENT CASE-
· IPR: Patentable subject matter in agriculture:
Ø CHAPTER – VIII ------------- Page no . 233 to 265
· INDIA's OBLIGATIONS ON AGRICULTURE IPRs :
· AWEARNESS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
· Policy Direction
· Awareness Generation and Literacy in IPR
· Agriculture IPR Education, Training and Human
Resource Development
· Strengthening the Institutional Mechanism—Legal, Regulatory
and Administrative
· Strengthening the Policy Area
· Harnessing IP-linked Technical Opportunities in Agriculture
· linkage and Cooperation
· Origin of the material and access to benefit sharing
· The need to protect Traditional Knowledge
· The Public debate in India on legislative changes on IPRs:
· Protection to Agriculture Sector
· Vital Role of the Public Sector and the CGIAR System
· Farming systems reformation
Ø CHAPTER – IX ------------- Page no .266 to 274
CONCLUSION and SUGGESTION:
· Protection to Agriculture Innovation
· Evolution and Impact of IPR in India
· Legislative gaps:
· Weak enforceability of IPR:
· Administrative and affordability issues
· Misappropriation of traditional knowledge:
Ø Bibliography ------------- Page no 275 to 276
-------------------------------------
CHAPTER-I
INTRODUCTION:
Intellectual property rights (IPRs) can be broadly defined as legal rights established over creative or inventive ideas. There are two broad categories of IPRs: one, industrial property covering IPRs such as patents, trademarks, geographical indications and industrial designs; copyright and related rights covering artistic and literary works, performances, broadcasts and the like. IPRs that do not fit into this classical division are termed sui generis, meaning one-of-its-kind. Such sui generis rights include those covering lay-out designs of semi conductor chips and plant breeders’ rights. This dissertation will in the next section distinguish the IPRs relevant to agriculture and explain these rights. Following the Agreement on Trade related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) in the World Trade Organization (WTO), most countries are committed to the provision of certain Minimum standards for the protection of intellectual property. Such intellectual property rights (IPRs) raise crucial issues for the future development of agriculture and are particularly important for a developing country like India. These issues are being extensively debated in India and have contributed to the preparation of legislation on IPRs with respect to plant variety protection, patents and geographical indications.
In today’s globalised economy, the organization are protecting its intellectual property by adopting the available measures in form of patents, copyright, trademark etc. but besides these popular IP rights there are other IP rights not so popular but which are recently drawing attentions all over t[1]he world- Confidential Information and Trade Secret. Confidential information and trade secrets are protected under the common law and there are no statutes that specifically govern the protection of the same. In order to protect trade secrets and confidential information, watertight agreements should be agreed upon, and they should be supported by sound policies and procedures. Protection of Confidential Information in the Hands of Employees In this information age, it’s imperative that a business protects its new formula, product, technology, customer lists, or future business plans. In the global marketplace, Indian corporations are often required to comply with foreign laws and are likely to be exposed to liabilities for violation of confidential information or trade secrets of their business partners or third parties. For example, the U.S. Economic Espionage Act, 1996 imposes criminal liability (including fines and prison sentences) on any person who intentionally or knowingly steals a trade secret, knowingly receives, or purchases a wrongfully obtained trade secret. The standards for protection have to be tailored to address the risks associated with rapid advancement in technology and communications. The standards accepted today may become inadequate tomorrow. However, one constant factor is the presence of a corporate culture imbued with information protection values. The employees of an organization are privy to confidential information and trade secrets on a daily basis. In the absence of any specific Indian statute conferring protection on such information in the hands of employees, recourse has to be taken to common law rights and contractual obligations.
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the development of civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science. Agriculture is also observed in certain species of ant and termite, but generally speaking refers to human activities.
The history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. However, all farming generally relies on techniques to expand and maintain the lands suitable for raising domesticated species. For plants, this usually requires some form of irrigation, although there are methods of dryland farming; pastoral herding on rangeland is still the most common means of raising livestock. In the developed world, industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture has become the dominant system of modern farming, although there is growing support for sustainable agriculture.
Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, but at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.
The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. In the 21st century, plants have been used to grow befouled, biopharmaceuticals, Bioplastics, and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Bibfuls include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.
In 2007, one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. The services sector has overtaken agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the size of its workforce, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product an aggregate of all gross domestic products.
Agriculture has played a key role in the development of human civilization. Until the Industrial Revolution, the vast majority of the human population labored in agriculture. The type of agriculture they developed was typically subsistence agriculture in which farmers raised most of their crops for consumption on farm, and there was only a small portion left over for the payment of taxes, dues, or trade. In subsistence agriculture cropping decisions are made with an eye to what the family needs for food, and to make clothing, and not the world marketplace. Development of agricultural techniques has steadily increased agricultural productivity, and the widespread diffusion of these techniques during a time period is often called an agricultural revolution. A remarkable shift in agricultural practices has occurred over the past century in response to new technologies, and the development of world markets. This also led to technological improvements in agricultural techniques, such as the Haber-Bosch method for synthesizing ammonium nitrate which made the traditional practice of recycling nutrients with crop rotation and animal manure less necessary.
Synthetic nitrogen, along with mined rock phosphate, pesticides and mechanization, have greatly increased crop yields in the early 20th century. Increased supply of grains has led to cheaper livestock as well. Further, global yield increases were experienced later in the 20th century when high-yield varieties of common staple grains such as rice, wheat, and corn (maize) were introduced as a part of the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution exported the technologies (including pesticides and synthetic nitrogen) of the developed world to the developing world. Thomas Malthus famously predicted that the Earth would not be able to support its growing population, but technologies such as the Green Revolution have allowed the world to produce a surplus of food.
Many governments have subsidized agriculture to ensure an adequate food supply. These agricultural subsidies are often linked to the production of certain commodities such as wheat, corn (maize), rice, soybeans, and milk. These subsidies, especially when instituted by developed countries have been noted as protectionist, inefficient, and environmentally damaging.
In the past century agriculture has been characterized by enhanced productivity, the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, selective breeding, mechanization, water contamination, and farm subsidies. Proponents of organic farming such as Sir Albert Howard argued in the early 20th century that the overuse of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers damages the long-term fertility of the soil. While this feeling lay dormant for decades, as environmental awareness has increased in the 21st century there has been a movement towards sustainable agriculture by some farmers, consumers, and policymakers.
In recent years there has been a backlash against perceived external environmental effects of mainstream agriculture, particularly regarding water pollution, resulting in the organic movement. One of the major forces behind this movement has been the European Union, which first certified organic food in 1991 and began reform of its Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2005 to phase out commodity-linked farm subsidies, also known as decoupling. The growth of organic farming has renewed research in alternative technologies such as integrated pest management and selective breeding. Recent mainstream technological developments include genetically modified food.
In late 2007, several factors pushed up the price of grains consumed by humans as well as used to feed poultry and dairy cows and other cattle, causing higher prices of wheat (up 58%), soybean (up 32%), and maize (up 11%) over the year. Food riots took place in several countries across the world. Contributing factors included drought in Australia and elsewhere, increasing demand for grain-fed animal products from the growing middle classes of countries such as China and India, diversion of food grain to biofuel production and trade restrictions imposed by several countries. An epidemic of stem rust on wheat caused by race Ug99 is currently spreading across Africa and into Asia and is causing major concern. Approximately 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded. In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
Agricultural practices such as irrigation, crop rotation, fertilizers, and pesticides were developed long ago, but have made great strides in the past century. The history of agriculture has played a major role in human history, as agricultural progress has been a crucial factor in worldwide socio-economic change. Division of labor in agricultural societies made commonplace specializations rarely seen in hunter-gatherer cultures. So, too, are arts such as epic literature and monumental architecture, as well as codified legal systems. When farmers became capable of producing food beyond the needs of their own families, others in their society were freed to devote themselves to projects other than food acquisition. Historians and anthropologists have long argued that the development of agriculture made civilization possible. The total world population probably never exceeded 15 million inhabitants before the invention of agriculture.
The Fertile Crescent of Western Asia, Egypt, and India were sites of the earliest planned sowing and harvesting of plants that had previously been gathered in the wild. Independent development of agriculture occurred in northern and southern China, Africa's Sahel, New Guinea and several regions of the Americas. The eight so-called Neolithic founder crops of agriculture appear: first emmer wheat and einkorn wheat, then hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax. By 7000 BC, small-scale agriculture reached Egypt. From at least 7000 BC the Indian subcontinent saw farming of wheat and barley, as attested by archaeological excavation at Merger in Balochistan in what is present day Pakistan. By 6000 BC, mid-scale farming was entrenched on the banks of the Nile. This, as irrigation had not yet matured sufficiently. About this time, agriculture was developed independently in the Far East, with rice, rather than wheat, as the primary crop. Chinese and Indonesian farmers went on to domesticate taro and beans including mung, soy and azuki. To complement these new sources of carbohydrates, highly organized net fishing of rivers, lakes and ocean shores in these areas brought in great volumes of essential protein. Collectively, these new methods of farming and fishing inaugurated a human population boom that dwarfed all previous expansions and continues today.
By 5000 BC, the Sumerians had developed core agricultural techniques including large-sc[2]ale intensive cultivation of land, monocropping, organized irrigation, and the use of a specialized labor force, particularly along the waterway now known as the Shatt al-Arab, from its Persian Gulf delta to the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. Domestication of wild aurochs and maudlin into cattle and sheep, respectively, ushered in the large-scale use of animals for food/fiber and as beasts of burden. The shepherd joined the farmer as an essential provider for sedentary and semi nomadic societies. Maize, manioc, and arrowroot were first domesticated in the Americas as far back as 5200 BC.
The potato, tomato, pepper, squash, several varieties of bean, tobacco, and several other plants were also developed in the Americas, as was extensive terracing of steep hillsides in much of Andean South America. The Greeks and Romans built on techniques pioneered by the Sumerians, but made few fundamentally new advances. Southern Greeks struggled with very poor soils, yet managed to become a dominant society for years. The Romans were noted for an emphasis on the cultivation of crops for trade.
In the same region, a parallel agricultural revolution occurred, resulting in some of the most important crops grown today. In Mesoamerica wild teosinte was transformed through human selection into the ancestor of modern maize, more than 6000 years ago. It gradually spread across North America and was the major crop of Native Americans at the time of European exploration. Other Mesoamerican crops include hundreds of varieties of squash and beans. Cocoa was also a major crop in domesticated Mexico and Central America. The turkey, one of the most important meat birds, was probably domesticated in Mexico or the U.S. Southwest. In the Andes region of South America the major domesticated crop was potatoes, domesticated perhaps 5000 years ago. Large varieties of beans were domesticated, in South America, as well as animals, including llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Coca, still a major crop, was also domesticated in the Andes.
A minor center of domestication, the indigenous people of the Eastern U.S. appear to have domesticated numerous crops. Sunflowers, tobacco, varieties of squash and Chenopodium, as well as crops no longer grown, including marsh elder and little barley were domesticated. Other wild foods may have undergone some selective cultivation, including wild rice and maple sugar. The most common varieties of strawberry were domesticated from Eastern North America.
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