Earlier this year, Uruguay announced two major updates in the patent and regulatory spheres that are likely to encourage outside investment in Uruguayan industry, particularly for agbiotech: Uruguay is acceding to the Patent...more
After overhauling its biotechnology regulations for plants developed using genetic engineering, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) is again reevaluating its...more
In October 2023, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) published a long-awaited updated Explanatory Note on Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs). The UPOV Convention outlines a popular...more
On Thursday, January 25, 2024, the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office (U.S. PVPO) announced that the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Offices of Canada and Japan are now accepting Distinctness, Uniformity, and Stability (DUS)...more
Alongside rapid advances in biotechnology that are improving fine-tuned genetic engineering in plants, regulation for such plants is also rapidly evolving, including several important updates in the past year....more
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) have recently opened requests for stakeholder engagement regarding biotechnology regulatory frameworks. These requests provide the...more
11/21/2023
/ Agricultural Sector ,
APHIS ,
Biotechnology ,
Comment Period ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Federal Register ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
The Nagoya Protocol ,
USDA ,
USPTO
After much anticipation, the EU Commission’s proposal for a regulation on plants developed using New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) is now under consideration. For an overview of the EU proposal, please see MoFo’s recent post....more
7/3/2023
/ Agricultural Marketing Act ,
APHIS ,
Biotechnology ,
EU ,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ,
Genetically Engineered Seed ,
Life Sciences ,
Medical Foods ,
Pharmaceutical Industry ,
Plant Based Products ,
USDA
On April 3, 2023, the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) held a preparatory session for the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Technical Working Party for Vegetables (TWV) and...more
On March 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its report on “More and Better Choices for Farmers: Promoting Fair Competition and Innovation in Seeds and Other Agricultural Inputs,” which was prepared in...more
Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is a form of intellectual property protection administered through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for new varieties of plants....more
Researchers around the world are working at record speed to find the best ways to treat and prevent COVID-19. In this fifth episode of our podcast series on COVID-19, Michael Ward, MoFo partner and global head of the firm’s...more
As the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak continues to impact business, markets, and society at large, our attorneys who work with private equity (PE) clients in the U.S. have been having conversations with those clients about...more
On March 25, the Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBA) of the European Patent Office (EPO) handed a victory to those seeking to protect plant inventions in Europe. The EBA found that the essentially biological processes exclusion of...more
In Canada, plant breeders’ rights are a form of intellectual property under the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act of 1990. The intent of the 1990 act was to encourage plant breeding in Canada by strengthening the protections for new...more
As part of their treaty obligations in establishing International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), member countries have enacted laws that provide ‘‘Plant Breeders’ Rights’’ for protecting the...more
Life science companies in general (and seed companies in particular) are breathing a sigh of relief following the Supreme Court’s decision yesterday in Bowman v. Monsanto.
As Bowman wended its way through district...more
In November, Walter Beineke petitioned the Supreme Court for review of a Federal Circuit decision affirming the rejection of two plant patents on tree varieties that he discovered as not patent-eligible. This month, the PTO...more