Intellectual Property Over Mutant and Gene Edited Plants

Intellectual property rights can cover biological inventions including plants, plant varieties, and plant parts. Defining stable boundaries for plant inventions as legal objects has proven difficult, and these challenges have been exacerbated by the focus on trait breeding in the creation of mutant and gene edited plants. We explore how intellectual property is used to claim ownership of plant inventions, and how this intersects with developments in genetic science. In particular, we analyse how genetic assessment has shaped the UPOV concept of essential determination, the determinative role genetics have played in essential derivation disputes, and proposals to rework essential derivation for the trait breeding era.