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Intellectual Property Rights And Concentration In Agricultural Biotechnology William Lesser Cornell University AgBioForum Fall98 v.1, n.2 The relationships between intellectual property rights (IPRs) and structural change are examined in this paper. Intellectual property rights are a complex, multifaceted area and one in which corporate strategies are poorly understood. Nevertheless, it is argued here that IPRs can affect firm entry, can make vertical integration in downstream industries more or less necessary, and can create financial incentives for downstream mergers and acquisitions. Hence, IPRs can have significant structural impacts. Key words: intellectual property rights; agrobiotechnology; industry structure; research and development (R&D) The later 1990s have been a tumultuous time for merger and acquisition activity among firms involved in agricultural biotechnology. By the end of the third quarter of 1998, Monsanto alone had been involved in 18 acquisitions and had itself agreed and then reneged on a merger with American Home Products. In addition, Monsanto completed overseas acquisitions worth a total of $7.3 billion over two years. Novartis was formed by the merging of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy, while DuPont chose to enter the market through joint ventures; a total of 20 joint ventures valued at over $5 billion (Moore, 1998). These mergers have contributed greatly to a restructuring of the seed industry. Most notably, Monsanto controlled up to 40 percent of seed for the 1998 United States (U.S.) soybean crop and, if approved, full acquisition of Delta & Pine Land will give Monsanto ownership of at least 80 percent of the U.S. cotton seed industry (Kilman & Warren, 1998). This is not the only incidence of major acquisition activity, a previous one occurred about 20 years earlier. Butler and Marion (1985) list 27 mergers during the period 1978-80. The 1980 date is pivotal as it marks some strengthening amendments to the United States Plant Variety Prot

Freedom to Innovate: Biotechnology in Africa's Development Report of the High-Level African Panel on Modern Biotechnology Report, African Union and New Partnership for Africa's Development August 2007 Authors: Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development; Director, Science, Technology, and Globalization Project; Principal Investigator, Agricultural Innovation in Africa, Ismail Serageldin Belfer Center Programs or Projects: Science, Technology, and Globalization; Science, Technology, and Public Policy; Agricultural Innovation in Africa   This report is about the role of biotechnology in the transformation of African economies. The implications of its recommendations, however, need to be seen beyond the confines of biological innovations. They address critical issues related to Africa's place in a globalizing economy. Undertaken at the request of heads of state and government this report demonstrates what is needed to build the required capacity to harness and apply biotechnologies to improve agricultural productivity, public health, industrial development, economic competitiveness, and environmental sustainability (including biodiversity conservation) in Africa. It also shows that the measures needed to address biotechnology will strengthen Africa's capacity to adapt other technologies to economic development. In fact, previous inabilities to build capacity in fields such as information technology hamper the continent's efforts in biotechnology. This report has placed these systemic considerations in the context of the role of innovation in economic transformation. It challenges Africa's heads of state and government to take seriously the importance of a coordinated approach in promoting technological innovation in development. African governments have recognized the importance of regional cooperation to address possibilities and the range of issues associated with biotechnology. Within the framework of the New Partnership for Africa's De

issues in biotechnology agricultural biotechnology NEW! Biofuel, Economics, and Society an interview with Daniel De La Torre Ugarte Can Agricultural Biotechnology be Green? an interview with Fred Gould Biotechnology and the Green Revolution an interview with Norman Borlaug The Ecological Impacts of Agricultural Biotechnology by Miguel Altieri Biotechnology in Crops: Issues for the Developing World by Laura Spinney cloning Mammoths: Resurrecting Extinct Megafauna by Larry D. Agenbroad Primer on Ethics and Human Cloning by Glenn McGee Animal Cloning: ...Old MacDonald's Farm Is Not What It Used To Be by Lauren Pecorino genetically modified organisms Designer Babies: Ethical Considerations by Nicholas Agar Designing Insects by Thomas A. Miller Genetically Modified Foods: Are They a Risk to Human/Animal Health? by Arpad Pusztai medical biotechnology Ethical Issues in Genetic Engineering and Transgenics by Linda MacDonald Glenn Stem Cells for Cell-Based Therapies by Lauren Pecorino The Role of Bioethics in Medical Education: A Crucial Profession Under Threat by S. Van McCrary Genetic Engineering & Xenotransplantation by Shane T. Grey technology and ethics Primer on Ethics and Crossing Species Boundaries by Françoise Baylis and Jason Scott Robert Microbes in Court: The Emerging Field of Microbial Forensics by Abigail A. Salyers Biotechnology Topics in the Biology Curriculum by Patrick Guilfoile Agricultural Bioterrorism by Radford G. Davis Ethical Issues in Pharmacogenetics by Carol Isaacson Barash Evolutionary Biology: Technology for the 21st Century by Jim J. Bull Does Genetic Research Threaten Our Civil Liberties? by Philip Bereano students speak out Strategies for Building Community Trust in Nanotechnology by Andrea F. Biondo The Ethics of Biowarfare by Daniel Reyes Transgenic Animals: Their Benefits To Human Welfare by Endang Tri Margawati The Debate Over Genetically Modified Foods by Kerryn Sakko The Ethics of Nanotechnology by Andrew Chen

Title: Agricultural biotechnology in international development. Personal Authors: Author Affiliation: Michigan State Univ., Agricultural Biotechnology for Sustainable Productivity (ABSP), East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Editors: Ives, C. L., Bedford, B. M. Document Title: Agricultural biotechnology in international development Abstract: A conference on biotechnology for agricultural development was held in Pacific Grove, California, in 1997. Subjects included: (1) the Agricultural Biotechnology (AB) for Sustainable Productivity project, which was established in 1991; (2) addressing agricultural development in Egypt through AB; (3) the release of transgenic varieties in centres of origin; (4) current status of AB research in Indonesia; (5) AB and agricultural needs in sub-Saharan Africa; (6) the application of AB to food security crops, such as maize, potato, rice and sweet potato; (7) the application of AB to non-traditional crops, such as banana, date palm, cucurbits and oil palm; (8) AB development, transfer, adaptation and utilization; (9) considering beneficiaries and sustainability while undertaking AB research; (10) rice AB capacity building in Asia; (11) the benefits and costs of international biosafety regulations; (12) cassava biotechnology research; (13) AB capacity building in Peru; (14) the technology transfer system in Thailand; (15) the development of AB business; and (16) bioprospecting in Cost Rica. International, US and developing country issues, perspectives and experiences in developing and accessing ABs are examined. KEYWORDS: TROPAG | Oryza sativa | Zea mays | Musa | Elaeis guineensis | Ipomoea batatas | Phoenix dactylifera | biotechnology | research policies | plant breeding | genetic engineering | technology transfer | agriculture.

Special Issue: Innovation and Dynamic Efficiency in Agricultural Biotechnology Guest editors: James F. Oehmke, Carl Pray, and Anwar Naseem Preface: Innovation and Dynamic Efficiency in Agricultural Biotechnology J.F. Oehmke, C.E. Pray, & A. Naseem Innovation and Dynamic Efficiency in Plant Biotechnology: An Introduction to the Researchable Issues C.E. Pray, J.F. Oehmke, & A. Naseem Who is Doing What? Intellectual Property Rights in a Changing Political Environment: Perspectives on the Types and Administration of Protection W. Lesser Patterns of Public-Sector and Private-Sector Patenting in Agricultural Biotechnology P.W. Heisey, J.L. King, & K. Day Rubenstein Mergers, Acquisitions, and Stocks of Agricultural Biotechnology Intellectual Property J.L. King & D.E. Schimmelpfennig An Innovation Market Approach to Analyzing Impacts of Mergers and Acquisitions in the Plant Biotechnology Industry M. Brennan, C.E. Pray, A. Naseem, & J.F. Oehmke Does Plant Variety Intellectual Property Protection Improve Farm Productivity? Evidence From Cotton Varieties A. Naseem, J.F. Oehmke, & D.E. Schimmelpfennig What are the Current Effects of Industry Structure? Intellectual Property Rights on Research Tools: Incentives or Barriers to Innovation? Case Studies of Rice Genomics and Plant Transformation Technologies C.E. Pray & A. Naseem Property Rights and Incentives to Invest in Seed Varieties: Governmental Regulations in Argentina J.P. Kesan & A.A. Gallo Monopoly Power, Price Discrimination, and Access to Biotechnology Innovations A.K.A. Acquaye & G. Traxler Whither Biotechnology Research? Can Technology Transfer Help Public-Sector Researchers Do More with Less? The Case of the USDA's Agricultural Research Service K. Day Rubenstein & P.W. Heisey Second-Generation GMOs: Where to from Here? K.Y. Jefferson-Moore & G. Traxler Articles Bt Corn Farmer Compliance with Insect Resistance Management Requirements in Minnesota and Wisconsin J. Goldberger, J. Merrill, & T. Hurley Perceptions

Appropriate biotechnology in small-scale agriculture: how to reorient research and development. Personal Authors: Author Affiliation: Department of Biology and Society, Faculty of Biology, Free University, De Boelelaan, 1081 HV, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Editors: Bunders, J. F. G., Broerse, J. E. W. Document Title: Appropriate biotechnology in small-scale agriculture: how to reorient research and development. Abstract: The first chapter (by the editors) outlines the potential of various biotechnology techniques for developing countries, and the gap between need and access to new technology. Tissue culture, improved biological nitrogen fixation, biological control and diagnostics are seen as the most applicable. Part 1 of the book (by the editors and Steen Joffe) is entitled 'Towards criteria for assessment of project proposals' and consists of the following chapters: a case study: yam tissue culture in the Caribbean; guidelines for assessment of project proposals; and practical implications. The guidelines suggested include meeting specific end-user needs, assessing economic, social, environmental and cultural impacts, having government and institutional support, technical feasibility and safety, superiority to existing options, and building indigenous research capacity. Successful projects are characterized by the vision of entrepreneurs and the opportunities that they see, a formal interdisciplinary team of intermediaries to initiate projects which involve scientists from a range of disciplines, networking and team building through informal channels, a carefully designed preparatory phase in which a rough idea is further specified, legitimized and justified, and a prestigious sponsor to give moral support to the idea. Part 2, 'An interactive bottom-up approach in agricultural research' (by the editors and Annelies Stolp), contains the followng chapters: different approaches to technology development for Third World agriculture; implementation strategies for innov

Intellectual property and biotechnology: biological inventions Matthew Rimmer 1 Resenha Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008 - 377 páginas 'Dr Rimmer's book is a marvellous introduction to a crucial topic of our time. He writes engagingly, provocatively and always with good humour. A highly technical and complex area of law has been reduced to clear descriptions and searching analysis. Truly, this is an important book on an essential topic that will help define the ethics of a future that includes nothing less than the future of our species.' - From the foreword by the Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG, the High Court of Australia This book documents and evaluates the dramatic expansion of intellectual property law to accommodate various forms of biotechnology from micro-organisms, plants, and animals to human genes and stem cells. It makes a unique theoretical contribution to the controversial public debate over the commercialisation of biological inventions. The author also considers the contradictions between the Supreme Court of Canada rulings in respect of the Harvard Oncomouse, and genetically modified canola. He explores law, policy, and practice in both Australia and New Zealand in respect to gene patents and non-coding DNA. This study charts the rebellion against the European Union Biotechnology Directive - particularly in respect of Myriad Genetics' BRCA1 and BRCA2 patents, and stem cell patent applications. The book also considers whether patent law will accommodate frontier technologies - such as bioinformatics, haplotype mapping, proteomics, pharmacogenomics, and nanotechnology. Intellectual Property and Biotechnology will be of prime interest to lawyers and patent attorneys, scientists and researchers, business managers and technology transfer specialists.

Private-Public Interactions in Agrobiotechnology: Appropriate Roles and Rules of Conduct The Agricultural Knowledge System: Appropriate Roles and Interactions for the Public and Private Sectors N. Kalaitzandonakes Public/Private Alliances G. Rausser Are Research Alliances between State Agricultural Experiment Stations Incompatible with the Original Purpose of these Institutions? D.A. Holt & J.B. Bullock Partnerships between Public and Private: The Experience of the Cooperative Research Center for Plant Science in Australia C. Buller & W. Taylor The Changing Agricultural Research Environment: What Does it Mean for Public-Private Innovation? C. Klotz-Ingram & K. Day-Rubenstein Exploring the Public's Role in Agricultural Biotechnology Research S. Sonka & S. Pueppke Public Science, Biotechnology, and the Industrial Organization of Agrofood Systems S. Wolf & D. Zilberman Balancing Basic, Genetic Enhancement and Cultivar Development Research in an Evolving US Plant Germplasm System G. Traxler Public and Private Collaboration on Plant Biotechnology in China C.E. Pray Biotechnology and Agriculture: A Skeptical Perspective V.W. Ruttan

Agricultural biotechnology A. Altman, Rita R. Colwell 0 Resenhas Marcel Dekker, 1998 - 770 páginas Integrates available basic biotechnological methodologies with current agricultural practices, providing solutions to specific agricultural needs & problems from plant & crop yield to animal husbandry. Presents & evaluates the limitations of "classical" methodologies & the potential of novel & emergent agriculturally related biotechnologies

Agricultural biotechnology and the environment: science, policy, and social issues Sheldon Krimsky, Roger Paul Wrubel 3 Resenhas University of Illinois Press, 1996 - 294 páginas Modern agriculture is being transformed by the genetic alteration of seeds, animals, and microorganisms, a process that has produced such products as Flavr Savr tomatoes and crops resistant to specific insects or herbicides. Agricultural Biotechnology and the Environment is the first comprehensive overview of the ongoing transformation of agriculture, exploring the impact of genetic engineering from scientific, social, ethical, and ecological perspectives. Sheldon Krimsky and Roger Wrubel detail the impact the new generation of products is expected to have on agricultural practice and the environment and assess the degree to which current trends in biotechnology match earlier expectations. They also analyze the social and political response to innovations resulting from genetic technology.

Biotechnology And Agriculture: A Skeptical Perspective Vernon W. Ruttan University of Minnesota A combination of population and income growth will more than double the demand for food and other agricultural commodities over the next half century. Advances in crop productivity during the twentieth century have largely been based on the application of Mendelian genetics. If farmers are to respond effectively to the demands that will be placed on them over the next half century, research in molecular biology and biotechnology will have to be directed to removing the physiological constraints that are the source of present crop yield ceilings. Key words: biotechnology; physiological constraints; crop yield ceilings; mendelian revolution. Since the begi

Engineering the farm: ethical and social aspects of agricultural biotechnology Britt Bailey, Marc Lappé 3 Resenhas Island Press, 2002 - 202 páginas Engineering the Farm offers a wide-ranging examination of the social and ethical issues surrounding the production and consumption of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with leading thinkers and activists taking a broad theoretical approach to the subject. Topics covered include: the historical roots of the anti-biotechnology movement ethical issues involved in introducing genetically altered crops questions of patenting and labeling the "precautionary principle" and its role in the regulation of GMOs effects of genetic modification on the world's food supply ecological concerns and impacts on traditional varieties of domesticated crops potential health effects of GMOsContributors argue that the scope, scale, and size of the present venture in crop modification is so vast and intensive that a thoroughgoing review of agricultural biotechnology must consider its global, moral, cultural, and ecological impacts as well as its effects on individual consumers. Throughout, they argue that more research is needed on genetically modified food and that consumers are entitled to specific information about how food products have been developed.Despite its increasing role in worldwide food production, little has been written about the broader social and ethical implications of GMOs. Engineering the Farm offers a unique approach to the subject for academics, activists, and policymakers involved with questions of environmental policy, ethics, agriculture, environmental health, and related fields.

Agricultural biotechnology is typically analyzed critically by means of a political ecological focus on the science and its ecological implications - agbio science as a radical, and 'non-natural', break with 'normal' trajectories for 'new plant science'. Surprisingly, less attention has been paid to a range of key political economic issues, many of which were important in the last big food production technology 'revolution', the Green Revolution. This paper will focus on three areas of political economy. First, we discuss the corporate drivers of agricultural biotechnology, and examine whether these drivers have already set the technology so that it cannot be changed. Second, we investigate the present economics and technology of genetic modification in plants, and its possible future. Third, we examine empirical evidence for alternative visions of the technology.

Against the grain: biotechnology and the corporate takeover of your food Marc Lappé, Britt Bailey 5 Resenhas Common Courage Press, 1998 - 163 páginas Current Events. Science. Do genetically engineered food crops really offer the "risk-free" breadbasket for the world promised by biotechnology companies like Monsanto? Or are there serious risks to human health and the ecosphere hidden in this silent revolution? Against The Grain slashes through biotechnology's propaganda, revealing the science and politics behind "transgenic" foods to show how biotech companies increasingly engineer what you eat to be compatible with their chemicals -but not necessarily good for human health. Marc Lappe holds a doctorate in Experimental Pathology from the University of Pennsylvania and currently directs the Center for Ethics and Toxics in northern California. Britt Bailiey holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Policy and is a research associate at CETOS

During the past twenty-five years, biotechnology has revolutionized agricultural research. The enormous potential, together with a landmark decision by the US Supreme Court to allow the patenting of genetically-engineered organisms has encouraged private sector companies to invest in agricultural biotechnology research programmes. This has contributed to a rapid growth in interest in intellectual property rights as applied to this subject.The first edition of this book was published in 1998. Now fully revised and updated it presents definitive information on intellectual property law in a simplified form (with a minimum of legal jargon). New chapters have been added which cover plant variety protection and farmers rights, and additional case studies.

Biodiversity and the law: intellectual property, biotechnology and traditional knowledge Charles R. McManis 0 Resenhas Earthscan, 2007 - 484 páginas How do we promote global economic development while simultaneously preserving local biological and cultural diversity? This authoritative volume, written by leading biological and social scientists and legal experts from around the world, addresses this question in all of its complexity. The first part of the book examines biodiversity and examines what are we losing, why we are losing it and what is to be done. The second part addresses biotechnology and looks at whether it is part of the solution or part of the problem'or perhaps both. The third section examines traditional knowledge, explains what it is and how, if at all, should it be protected. The fourth and final part looks at ethnobotany and bioprospecting and offers practical lessons from the vast and diverse experiences of the contributors. This volume is an indispensable reference for all legal practitioners, regulators and policy makers, scientists and conservationists and professionals in pharmaceutical and agricultural industries.

The ecological risks of engineered crops Jane Rissler, Margaret G. Mellon 3 Resenhas MIT Press, 1996 - 168 páginas What will it mean to have a steady stream of animal and microbial genes entering the gene pools of plants in wild ecosystems? Private companies and the federal government are pouring significant resources into biotechnology, and the major application of genetic engineering to agriculture is transgenic crops. This carefully reasoned science and policy assessment shows that the commercialization and release of transgenic crops on millions of acres of farmland can pose serious-and costly-environmental risks. The authors propose a practical, feasible method of conducting precommercialization evaluations that will balance the needs of ecological safety with those of agriculture and business, and that will assist governments seeking to identify and protect against two of the most significant risks. Rissler and Mellon first define transgenic plants and review research currently under way in the field of crop biotechnology. They then identify and categorize the environmental risks presented by commercial uses of transgenic crops. These include the potential of transgenic crops to become weeds or to produce weeds with transgene properties such as herbicide resistance that may require costly control programs. Plants engineered to contain virus particles may facilitate the creation of new viruses that can affect economically important crops. Looking at global seed trade, the authors discuss the relationship between commercial approval in the United States and environmental risks abroad. Of particular concern is the flow of novel genes into the centers of crop biodiversity, primarily in the developing world, that could threaten the genetic base of the world's future food supply. The authors conclude by reviewing the current status of U.S. regulations governing transgenic crops. They discuss the difficulties that this new terrain presents to regulators, a

This book presents the first thorough economic analysis of current agricultural biotechnology regulation. The contributors, most of whom are agricultural economists working either in universities or NGOs, address issues such as commercial pesticides, the costs of approving new products, liability, benefits, consumer acceptance, regulation and its impacts, transgenic crops, social welfare implications, and biosafety. Richard E. Just is Distinguished University Professor and former Chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Maryland at College Park. Julian M. Alston is Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Davis. David Zilberman is Chair, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California at Berkeley.

The genetic modification of crops continues to be the subject of intense debate, and opinions are often strongly polarised. Environmental Impact of Genetically Modified Crops addresses the major concerns of scientists, policy makers, environmental lobby groups and the general public regarding this controversial issue, from an editorially neutral standpoint. Included is a chapter by Bruce Tabashnik on the recent discovery of the first documented case of field-evolved resistance to a crop genetically modified to carry the gene for the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin. While the main focus is on environmental impact, food safety issues for both humans and animals are also considered. The book concludes with a discussion on the future of agricultural biotechnology in the context of sustainability, natural resource management and future global population and food supply.

Michael Fumento discusses the miracle drugs and treatment in the pipeline--innovations that will change medicine over the next decades, eliminating diseases such as diabete