WIPO-UPOV Symposium on Intellectual Property Rights in Plant Biotechnology
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WORLD INTELLECTUAL |
INTERNATIONAL UNION |
WIPO-UPOV SYMPOSIUM ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IN PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY
Geneva, October 24, 2003
The results of a WIPO-UPOV Symposium, held on October 24, 2003, in Geneva, were clear: progress in plant biotechnology is important for all countries, developed and developing, and requires appropriate protection of intellectual property rights. In this regard, patents and plant breeders rights are both needed and often combined in protection and promotion of plant biotechnology.
Ambassador Jara from Chile, who chaired the Symposium, concluded that "the two systems have co-existed out of necessity. This relationship of co-existence needs to improve over time in the light of some grey areas which will have to be settled and defined by legislators or by regulators or by the Courts, depending on the particular national system in which you are operating. At the end of the day we have an evolving world, we have big challenges that we have to convert into big opportunities."
This WIPO-UPOV Symposium attracted some 200 participants, including representatives of governments, international organizations, academics and legal experts, as well as companies active in biotechnology and plant breeding.
The presentations, biographies of the speakers and transcriptions of the discussions have been posted on the WIPO and UPOV Websites.
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