ISHS Acta Horticulturae 810: IX International Vaccinium Symposium
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION AND THE FUNDING OF BLUEBERRY BREEDING IN THE FUTURE: THE NEW PARADIGM |
| Authors: | J.F. Hancock, J.R. Clark |
| Keywords: | licensing and patenting, public blueberry breeders |
| Abstract:
Unfortunately, sustained taxpayer-based support for public breeding programs has been greatly reduced in recent years. Expensive, field-oriented programs have lost favor to more basic research programs that generate grant overhead. Totally public blueberry breeding programs have become almost extinct, as almost all the breeding programs that have survived now patent and license new cultivars. There are a number of types of intellectual property available to plant breeders: 1) plant patents, 2) utility patents, 3) plant variety protection, 4) plant breeders rights, and 5) trademarks. To date, blueberry cultivars have only been protected by plant patents and plant breeders rights. The consequence of widespread patenting and licensing is that free germplasm exchange is now discouraged and the use of patented cultivars as breeding parents has been reduced. Multi-state testing arrangements have also become more difficult to arrange. From a breeding standpoint, the consequences of these restrictions are that the germplasm base of “public” programs will become more limited and more emphasis will be placed on utilizing un-improved species selections and/or breeding only within the germplasm of the program. To prevent this from happening, we need to develop reciprocal breeding arrangements among “public” breeders, where formal contracts are made to share germplasm. In these arrangements, the partners would use each others germplasm to make crosses, trial the resulting families independently, release the best hybrids in consultation with the germplasm developer, and then pay a royalty to the germplasm developer, depending on level of ancestry. The potential downsides to such an arrangement are that the better breeders will lose some of their advantage and would likely share more royalties; there may also be a proliferation of similar varieties. However, each breeder would have access to a much broader germplasm base, which should outweigh these negatives, and “public” breeding programs will be better funded. A critical mass of public blueberry breeders might also survive to train the next generation. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
