Australian court allows application for cattle genome patent

The Federal Court of Australia has allowed an application for a cattle genome patent, following a legal battle.

The  ruling was issued on January 23.

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), a public research and marketing body, opposed the application, describing it as a “bid to patent general discoveries of nature in cattle research”.

In a 2016  press release, MLA claimed the patent is “so broad that it affects genomic selection for all cattle production traits”.

The patent, owned by US company Branhaven, covers methods for identifying valuable traits in the bovine genome, including milk production, fat marbling (the intermingling or dispersion of fat within the lean) and the level of growth.

Branhaven filed the patent in Australia in 2010.

MLA opposed the application in 2014. In May 2016, after the Australian commissioner of patents approved the application, MLA filed an appeal with the Federal Court.

In February 2018, the court rejected MLA’s bid to refuse the application and allowed Branhaven to amend its application after the judge accepted three of MLA’s arguments.

These arguments included issues relating to a lack of clarity, definition and utility in the application. Branhaven submitted an amended patent for approval in May 2018, which was in turn opposed by MLA.

MLA argued that the court did not have the jurisdiction to deal with the amended patent application as it had already made a final decision on the case.

In his ruling on January 23, Judge Jonathan Beach asserted that the principal reasons he gave for finding in favour of Branhaven in February 2018 did not constitute a final decision on the case.

“The distinction between a court’s reasons for decision on the one hand and the court’s judgment on the other hand is not in doubt,” the ruling said.

The amended patent application will now be considered by IP Australia, the country’s IP office, unless MLA appeals against the decision, ABC  reports.

The court awarded 10% of fees to MLA owing to its “modest success” in opposing elements of the patent. Branhaven’s request for MLA to pay the cost of the amended application was denied.

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