Budapest treaty

Budapest treaty

• 1.
  BUDAPEST TREATY SUCHITRABAI PATENTS DEPARTMENT ALTACIT GLOBAL CHENNAI
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  WHAT IS THEBUDAPEST TREATY ? This is an international convention governing the recognition of deposits in officially approved culture collections for the purpose of patent applications in any country that is a party to it. Because of the difficulties and on occasion of virtual impossibility of reproducing a microorganism from a description of it in a patent specification, it is essential to deposit a strain in a culture collection centre for testing and examination by others.
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  BUDAPEST TREATY The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purpose of Patent Procedure , signed on April 28, 1977, was amended on September 26, 1980. The Budapest Treaty eliminates the need to deposit microorganisms in each country where patent protection is sought. Under the treaty, the deposit of a microorganism with an "international depositary authority" satisfies the deposit requirements of treaty members' national patent laws. An "international depositary authority" is capable of storing biological material and has established procedures that assure compliance with the Budapest Treaty. Such procedures include requirements that the deposit will remain available for the life of the patent and that samples will be furnished only to those persons or entities entitled to receive them. The establishment of "international depositary authorities" offers several advantages to both patent applicants and contracting states. Patent applicants benefit because the need to deposit in many countries in which they seek patent protection is dramatically reduced. Since a single deposit in any "international depositary authority" will satisfy the national disclosure requirements of any member state, patent applicants' costs are much lower. Using a single authority as a deposit increases the deposit's security, and provides a mechanism of distribution of the deposit. Contracting states benefit because they can rely on the treaty's uniform standards to assure effective deposit and public availability. They no longer need to independently establish a 'recognized' depositary to meet national patentability disclosure requirements.
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  WHAT IS THESYSTEM FOR PROTECTING MICROBIOLOGICAL INVENTIONS AND MICROORGANISMS? The Indian Patent Act has no specific provision for patenting of microorganisms and microbiological processes. However, as a matter of practice microorganisms per se are not patentable in India. In order to meet the obligation under TRIPS. India is required to introduce a patenting of microorganisms. Draft laws in this regards have been formulated. It may, however, be noted that many countries allow both process and product patents in regard to microbiological inventions and microorganism per se . All such countries allow patenting of genetically modified microorganisms but a few also allow patenting of naturally occurring microorganisms if isolated from nature for the first time and if other conditions of patentability are satisfied.
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  MICROORGANISMS TYPES
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  ARE THERE ANYDIFFERENCES IN THE FILING OF PATENT APPLICATIONS IN RESPECT OF MICROBIOLOGICAL INVENTIONS AND OTHER INVENTIONS? An inventor is required to deposit the strain of a microorganism in a recognized depository which assigns a registration number to the deposited microorganism. This number needs to be quoted in the patent application. Obviously a strain of microorganism is required to be deposited before filing a patent application. It may be observed that this mechanism obviates the need of describing a microorganism in the patent application. Further, samples of strains can be obtained from the depository for further working on the patent. There are many international depositories in many countries, which are recognized under the Budapest Treaty.
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  TRIPS AGREEMENT Article27 paragraph 3 (b) of the TRIPS Agreement, stipulates that IP protection be extended to microorganisms, non-biological and micro-biological processes and plant varieties. If the applicant mentions biological material in the invention and it is not possible to describe the same in the complete specification, requirement of sufficiency of disclosure can be completed by depositing such material in an International Depository Authority under the Budapest Treaty. The same shall be deposited not later than the date of filing, however, the reference number to the deposit shall be made in the specification within 3 months from the date of filing the application. The complete specification shall contain the details of such deposition and the source and geographical origin of the biological material .
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  INTERNATIONAL DEPOSITORY AUTHORITIESis a scientific institution, typically a culture collection which is capable of storing microorganisms. The Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank (MTCC), a national facility established in 1986 is funded jointly by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) , Government of India. The MTCC is a modern facility housed at the Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH), Chandigarh. It is an affiliate member of the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC) and is registered with the World Data Centre for Microorganisms (WDCM, registeration number 773).The main objectives of this national facility are to act as a depository, to supply authentic microbial cultures and to provide related services to the scientists working in research institutions, universities and industries. The MTCC was recognized by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Geneva, Switzerland as an International Depository Authority (IDA) on 4 October, 2002, thus becoming the first IDA in India, seventh in Asia and thirty-fourth in the world. The deposit of microorganisms under the Budapest Treaty is recognized to fulfill the requirement of patent procedure in 55 member countries.
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  Contd… Presently,the MTCC has five sections, the Actinomycetes, Bacteria, Fungi, Yeasts and Plasmids and collectively holding over nine thousand cultures. The fungi are also preserved under mineral oil. Special properties like production of metabolites, degradation of specific compounds are not normally checked. The MTCC scientists are actively involved in the research programmes relating to microbial diversity, ecology and taxonomy using both classical and molecular approaches.
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  WHY DOES ONENEED TO DEPOSIT MICROORGANISMS? Patenting of inventions involving microorganisms poses a unique problem. Description alone, regardless how elaborate it may be, is usually not sufficient enough to ensure repeatability due to inherent properties of living organisms as such and the microorganisms in particular. The reasons may be one or more of the following: a) description of a microorganism isolated from soil or any other ecological niche can never be complete, although some properties/features can be documented. b) ensuring isolation of the same strain from an ecological niche is difficult and c) an exactly identical genetic change (mutation) and selection of a desired strain of microorganism is extremely difficult to repeat
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  THANK YOU