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The restructuring of the crop agriculture industry over the past two decades has enabled patent holders to exclude, prevent and deter others from using certain research tools and delay or block further follow-on inventions.
The uses of genetic sequences to inform, enable or create products or services for human biomedicine are substantially different from their uses in crop-based agriculture.
The courts' new approach not only puts the US biotech industry at a competitive disadvantage but also misapprehends the nature of innovation in biotech.
Although the first major agbiotech product patent has expired, regulatory requirements could continue to allot a significant degree of control to the original right holder.
Though the major European Union member states all have research and Bolar exemptions in their patent laws, the scope and effect differs considerably from country to country.
African countries can establish a plant variety protection system that supports commercial seed systems without negatively affecting smallholder farmers.
In genetic diagnostics testing, what are the boundaries of the global patent problem, and is there a real risk that patents and licensing practices could impede access to tests?