Recalibrating the Incentive Systems for NBT
Research Project | 1 Project Members
Innovations in plant breeding are incentivized by both plant variety protection (PVP) and patent law. In principle, these two legal systems have independent fields of application. Basic aspects of plant breeding innovations are, for example, exempted from the scope of patent law. The technical nature of gene technology in general and of the “new plant breeding technologies (NBTs)” in particular have, however, opened up ample room for patenting plant breeding innovations. This has raised a lot of concern.
However, legal research has so far only focused on the symptoms, not the causes of this problem. It never really tackled the basic questions how law should deal with the overlap of PVP and patent law and whether these legal instruments protect too much. This results in poorly thought-out proposals that only remedy certain symptoms.
This project addresses the root of the problem. Its research question is: “How can dysfunctional effects and overlaps in the incentive structure for plant breeding innovation best be remedied by amending the PVP system, the patent system, or both?” The research will yield a dissertation as well as scientific papers and lead to a legislative proposal.
