7 March 2019 15.00 – 18.00, CIPA, Halton House, 20-23 Holborn, London EC1N 2JD
Can established IP systems work in a dynamic access and benefit sharing (ABS) environment? What happens when the still relatively new regulatory system for facilitated access to genetic resources that requires benefits to be shared with the provider country, runs up against long established structures and practices for IP protection in industry? Companies across the broad spectrum of the biosciences are grappling with practical questions of how to ensure compliance with international agreements on ABS, including how to negotiate appropriate IP clauses in their agreements. Can orthodox IP models work with evolving ABS regimes? And in this fluid regulatory area, how will companies prepare to deal with new IP heavy issues such as the possible inclusion of Digital Sequence Information or Synthetic Biology in ABS negotiations?
Thank you to all of the speakers for their engaging presentations and interesting discussion. Information on the speakers, their talks and their presentation slides are available below.
Panel Speaker Bio’s and topics
Fortunately help is at hand from WIPO, which published a comprehensive “Guide to Intellectual Property Issues in Access and Benefit-sharing Agreements” in 2018 and IPAN is delighted that the coordinator of this guide, Shakeel Bhatti of WIPO’s Global IP Issues sector will be the keynote speaker at our event. Shakeel was the first Secretary of the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Before that, he worked at WIPO as Head of Genetic Resources, Biotechnology and Associated Traditional Knowledge. Shakeel has a doctorate from Duke University, USA, on the scope of patentable subject matter under Article 27 of the TRIPS Agreement in relation to genetic resources and biotechnological inventions. He has taught international patent law and genetic resource policy at several universities worldwide. Shakeel took us through the key issues at the interface between ABS and IP.
Alan Hesketh, Indigena Biodiversity Alan is a European patent attorney and founder of Indigena Biodiversity. The mission of Indigena is to help biodiversity-rich countries to benefit from their local genetic resources, mainly plant species. To achieve that, Alan seeks to identify species that may have a commercial use; and act as a foreign partner for the country and local communities, to assist in licensing and development, using his IP expertise to identify those which have potential patenting opportunities. Alan has significant practical expertise and experience in working with the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and negotiating ABS agreements. See Alan’s presentation slide’s here.
Clive Green, Astrazeneca Clive is Executive Director and Head of Sample Management at AstraZeneca, where he is responsible for the small molecule and human biological sample collections. He chairs AstraZeneca’s Nagoya Protocol Governance Team, which has responsibility for developing corporate policy and procedures, conducting due diligence and advising on Genetic Resource use, and training and awareness. He has more than 15 years of experience in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, focusing on oncology and cardiovascular disease areas, with a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Nottingham. See Clive’s presentation slides here.
Claudia Seitz, Attorney-at-Law and Assistant Professor, University of Basel, Faculty of Law, Centre for Life Sciences Law Claudia’s research at the University of Basel, focuses inter alia on legal and rights management issues encountered by providers, intermediaries and recipients of genetic resources and digital sequence information in the context of ABS ) law as well as IP. Claudia has significant practical experience in the agrochemical sector as an in-house counsel at Syngenta International AG in Basel for 10 years and as an attorney in private practice. At the life sciences law firm Seitz & Riemer she advises on life sciences, pharmaceutical, regulatory, tech transfer and licensing as well as on IP law internationally. Claudia is admitted to the Bar in Germany, has a doctorate in law from the University of Basel and a Master´s degree from King´s College London. She has been scientific director or advisor to multiple international training programmes on ABS for genetic resources, IP in biotechnology and plant breeding, tech transfer and licensing. See Claudia’s presentation slides here.
Frank Michiels, BASF Frank is a biologist, with a PhD from the University of Brussels. His professional career has been in research and development with a focus on plant biotechnology, and product development for hybrid rice in Asia. He is currently at BASF, as plant variety clearance manager and responsible for plant variety protection in field crops. Frank has, for several years actively followed ITPGRFA (the Plant Treaty), CBD and the Nagoya Protocol from the perspective of a genetic resources user involved in innovation in plants. He is particularly interested in initiatives that support the overall objectives of the CBD. See Frank’s presentation slides here.
The seminar was held at CIPA, Halton House, 20-23 Holborn, London EC1N 2JD on 7 March 2019, at 15.00.
IPAN network meetings are free and open to both members and non-members.