Anest / Shutterstock.com
The EPO’s May 2020 decision in G3/19, on the patentability of certain plants, was among the most controversial in the office’s history. Anna Gregson of Mathys & Squire explores the implications.
In its decision G3/19, issued in May, the European Patent Office’s (EPO) Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) held that plants, plant material, and animals exclusively obtained by an essentially biological process are not patentable.
G3/19 is the latest chapter in a 20-year history of the protection of plant-related innovation, beginning with the introduction of the EU Biotech Directive in 1998. Before G3/19, the EBA’s last contribution to this saga was the issuance of the consolidated G2/12 and G2/13 (Tomatoes II and Broccoli II) in March 2015.
In those decisions, the EBA concluded that the exclusion of essentially biological processes for the production of plants in article 53(b) of the European Patent Convention (EPC) did not have a negative effect on the allowability of a product claim directed to plants or plant material. These decisions were not popular in some EPC member states, which led to the EU Commission issuing a guidance notice in November 2016 to the effect that the Biotech Directive excluded such products from patentability.
Life Sciences Intellectual Property Review (LSIPR) tracks the increasing challenges for intellectual property specialists in the rapidly evolving world of life sciences. From gene patents to stem cell research, we provide the very best news and analysis.
To continue reading this article and to access 4,500+ articles, our digital magazines and special reports published for LSIPR subscribers only then you will need a subscription.
If you are already subscribed please login.
Official LSIPR subscribers include:
Allen & Overy
Arnold & Siedsma
Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch LLP (BSKB)
Carpmaels & Ransford
Cooley
European Patent Office
Finnegan LLP
GH Research
Gowling WLG
George Washington Law School
HGF Limited
IQVIA
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Marks & Clerk
Mintz Levin
NiKang Therapeutics Inc.
Powell Gilbert LLP
Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP
Taylor Wessing
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Valea AB
World Intellectual Property Office
For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription we can add you into for FREE, please contact Atif at achoudhury@newtonmedia.co.
If you have any technical issues please email tech support.
European Patent Office, patents, plant, material, animals, biological, Tomatoes II, Broccoli II, EU Commission, European Patent Convention, patentability