Current USPTO patent laws key to food and ag systems---BUT recourse trade-offs zero it.
Vidal ’23 [Kathi and Thomas J. Vilsak; March 7; Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) – America’s Innovation Agency.; 32nd United States Secretary of Agriculture Uspto, "Increasing transparency, boosting competition, and supporting innovation can deliver better choices for farmers in the seed marketplace," uspto.gov/blog/increasing-transparency-boosting-competition-and]
The Biden-Harris Administration, including the USDA and the USPTO, recognizes the importance of innovations in the seed and agricultural space, including ones that will mitigate climate-related disruptions to our food and agricultural systems. With more choices, and plant varieties tailored to local circumstances, farmers may gain potential revenue. In addition, diversifying variety development and production of seeds and other planting stock will make supply chains less vulnerable to disruption, give incentives to new market entrants to compete, and establish a fairer and more competitive market.
The investment in innovation in the seed and agriculture industry is made possible in part due to our intellectual property (IP) laws. The foundations of these laws were written into the U.S. Constitution by our nation's founders, and innovators can utilize patents and plant variety protection to recoup and benefit from their investments during the limited terms provided. Indeed, USDA started its life as the then Patent Office's Division of Agriculture, which for the first decades of our country distributed free seeds to farmers to promote agricultural production. Seeds were recognized over time as part of the IP system through the Plant Variety Protection Act of 1970 and more recently through a series of court cases that recognized the availability of utility patents for seeds.
Today, the IP system affecting seeds is diverse and robust. For example, the Plant Variety Protection Act permits farmers to save seeds for their own use and permits plant breeders to conduct research to develop the next variety. Our patent laws also allow for and encourage the disclosure of inventions, and for others to build on those innovations. These delicate sets of balances aim to reward and incentivize those who do the work to create original innovation, as well as protecting the public interest in continued innovation and fair competition.
But more must be done to ensure that the IP system addresses the needs of agriculture today. While reliable IP protection can incentivize seed and agricultural innovations, our patent system must not be used to unnecessarily reduce competition beyond what is reasonably contemplated by the law.