What are patents, and will they trigger mandatory payments?
Patents are grants made by a government that confer upon the creator of an invention the sole right to make, use, and sell that invention for a set period of time. In some cases, patent protection restricts availability for further research and breeding and will therefore trigger mandatory payments on sales. In other cases, it does not. For example, • USA utility patents generally restrict availability for further research and breeding, unless of course the patent-holder issues free licenses to whoever wishes to use the patented product for research or breeding. • Patents under the USA Plant Patent Act cover only asexually reproduced plants and thus would not restrict availability for breeding sexually reproduced plants. • In Europe, patents generally do not restrict availability for research. France and Germany have new legislation that extends this exemption to breeding. Switzerland is considering adopting similar legislation. Dutch and UK patents do not have provisions yet for a bre
