The seed industry in the brazilian plant variety protection environment / A empresa de sementes no ambiente de proteção de cultivares no Brasil

AUTOR(ES)
DATA DE PUBLICAÇÃO

2005

RESUMO

The intellectual property rights in plants has been an issue globally discussed since the beginning of the last century, resulting in the adoption of protection systems and patents. Besides the production and trade of seed laws, there is other two forms of settling down controls on seeds: the biological, in that is possible to control the pollination of the crops as it is the case of the hybrids, and the legal, that is done by the plant protection law. Both can result in sustainability of the research progresses in the genetic improvement of the species without the need of the government financial support. The two more relevant worldwide legislative facts on intellectual property rights in plants were the United States Plant Patent Act in 1930, and the convention of UPOV in 1961. In Brazil the debates about plant variety protection began in the 70s, but only in 1997, as a consequence of the Brazils entrance in WTO, the Plant Variety Protection Law was approved. In May of 1999 the country stuck to the convention of UPOV, governed by the 1978 Act, although some characteristics of the Brazilian law are compatible with the 1991 Act. The promulgation of this Brazilian Law provoked significant changes in the scenery of the varietal and biotechnology research, as well as in the seed industry, forcing all the companies to adapt in the new system. The Bio-safety Law of 1995 and the Patent Law of 1996, that composed the new legal mark, also had influence in this new scenery, with significant impact in the agriculture. A study case involving soybean seeds companies for five years, confirmed many verifications. The volume of seeds produced in the licensing system increased, and the efficiency of planning index of these companies grew up, although with indexes still low. However, was observed that the illegal market of seeds and the saved seeds growth stimulated by the lack of enforcement by the official government agents and the companies over the intellectual property rights, what will be able to put in risk the future of the seed system. The great government confusing position about the definitive adoption of the GMOs in the country, collaborated significantly for the increase of the illegal seeds production and trade, initially in the soybean, with reflexes also over wheat and cotton. The new environment of plant variety protection provoked progresses so much in the companies sustainability, as in the agriculture performance, being a fundamental experience preparing the country to be hereafter one of the largest agricultural producer of the world.

ASSUNTO(S)

producao e beneficiamento de sementes sementes de soja proteção de cultivares intellectual property licensee mercado propriedade intelectual variety protection sementes soybean seed licenciamento

ACESSO AO ARTIGO

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