Agro-Biotechnology: - The Greens | European Free Alliance

Cloning in farm animals potential benefits, products and players | Cloned farm animals - a ‚killing application‘? | 29
tual property rights in animal breeding.
The underlying pattern of introducing patents into animal breeding can be studied
on the patent on the cloned sheep, Dolly. A world wide patent application
was filed by Roslin Institute in 1996 (WO1997007669) claiming the methods,
the embryo and the cloned animals:
Claim 1 reads: “A method of reconstituting an animal embryo, the method
comprising transferring the nucleus of a quiescent donor cell into a suitable
recipient cell.”
Claim 11 reads: “A method for preparing an animal, the method comprising:
a) reconstituting an animal embryo as claimed (...)
b) causing an animal to develop to term from the embryo; and
c) optionally, breeding from the animal so formed.”
Claim 14 reads: “A reconstituted embryo prepared by transferring the nucleus
of a quiescent donor cell into a suitable recipient cell.”
Claim 19 reads: “An animal prepared by a method as claimed.”
This patent was granted by the European Patent Office in 2001 (EP849 990).
The wording of the European Patent as granted does not claim the embryos
and the animals, but the method for producing them (see claim 1 as cited) and
performing breeding of further generations (see claim 11 as cited).
In fact the European Patent is not reduced in its scope. EU patent directive
98/44 EC states that a patent on a process for production of plants or animals
also covers all biological material derived. According to Article 8 (2) of 98/44
EC the exclusive rights as conferred by such a patent can even be transmitted
to further generations:
“The protection conferred by a patent on a process that enables a biological
material to be produced possessing specific characteristics as a result of the
invention shall extend to biological material directly obtained through that
process and to any other biological material derived from the directly obtained
biological material through propagation or multiplication in an identical
or divergent form and possessing those same characteristics.”
Thus in general a patent on a process for the cloning of animals does not only
cover the process but also any derived embryos and animals. The implications
for the broad scope of patents can result in far reaching dependencies for
farmers and breeders. There may even be an impact on downstream markets
such as food processing.
Recent research shows that several patents have been granted by the European
Patent Office since the patent on Dolly. The patents as listed do include
cloning of farm animals, some of them might also be used for medical purposes.