{"id":416,"date":"2016-06-20T13:38:52","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T17:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/?page_id=416"},"modified":"2016-08-31T21:33:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-01T01:33:49","slug":"4-1-1-3-breeders-exemption-and-farmers-privilege","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/4-trade-provisions\/4-1-intellectual-property-rights\/4-1-1-fostering-green-innovation\/4-1-1-3-breeders-exemption-and-farmers-privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"4.1.1.3 Breeders\u2019 Exemption and Farmers\u2019 Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The TRIPS Agreement allows WTO members to exclude, <em>inter alia<\/em>, plant varieties from patent protection (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/27-trips.pdf#page=13\" target=\"_blank\">Article 27.3(b)<\/a>) [TRIPs Article 27]. If they do so, however, they must have in place some alternate system of plant variety protection. Patent protection for plant varieties, if allowed, would confer stronger and broader rights than plant variety protection regimes. The latter have generally allowed farmers to save the seed that comes from growing protected varieties for their own use in replanting (farmers\u2019 privilege). They may also allow them to exchange and re-sell such seeds. Under such regimes, breeders can use protected varieties to create new varieties (breeders\u2019 exemption).<\/p>\n<p>Farmers\u2019 privilege allows farmers to better adapt protected varieties to changing climatic and locally specific conditions (as well as to enjoy the economic benefits of producing their own seed). Breeders\u2019 exemption allows new varieties to more quickly be created\u2014varieties that may be crucial in helping farmers adapt to changing climatic conditions. Plants may be improved or modified, among other objectives, to cope with climate change by enhancing their resistance to environmental stresses such as heat, cold, salinity and drought.<\/p>\n<p>The possibility of broadly excluding plants and parts thereof from patentability is limited or completely ruled out in countries that have signed RTIAs that impose an obligation to make efforts or to grant patents for plants.<sup>10<\/sup> These sorts of obligations are not recommended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The TRIPS Agreement allows WTO members to exclude, inter alia, plant varieties from patent protection (Article 27.3(b)) [TRIPs Article 27]. If they do so, however, they must have in place some alternate system of plant variety protection. Patent protection for plant varieties, if allowed, would confer stronger and broader rights than plant variety protection regimes.<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/4-trade-provisions\/4-1-intellectual-property-rights\/4-1-1-fostering-green-innovation\/4-1-1-3-breeders-exemption-and-farmers-privilege\/\" title=\"Read4.1.1.3 Breeders\u2019 Exemption and Farmers\u2019 Privilege\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"parent":410,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"2"},"class_list":["post-416","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/416\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/toolkits\/sustainability-toolkit-for-trade-negotiators\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}