Cases / Genetic resources and benefit-sharing · French Guiana · 2018
European Patent Office finds French institute's Quassia amara patent valid
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
The European Patent Office found valid a patent held by the French research body IRD on the plant Quassia amara. A 2016 French law left commonly known traditional knowledge outside benefit-sharing, the source reports.
What?
The European Patent Office found valid a French research body's patent on the plant Quassia amara Le Quotidien du Pharmacien
Where?
French Guiana (case region); decision at the European Patent Office Le Quotidien du Pharmacien
When?
Decision dated 21 February 2018 Le Quotidien du Pharmacien
Who?
Gained
- IRD — holder of the Quassia amara patent found valid by the EPO Le Quotidien du Pharmacien
Lost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Patent validity decided at the EPO; the 2016 French law excluded commonly known traditional knowledge from benefit-sharing Le Quotidien du Pharmacien
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
Le Quotidien du Pharmacien reported that the European Patent Office found valid IRD's patent on Quassia amara on 21 February 2018.
The same source reports that a 2016 French law left commonly known traditional knowledge outside benefit-sharing.
The article's headline uses the term 'biopiracy' for the patent dispute.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: any licence income, benefit payment or commercial use of the patent.
- None on record Not stated in the sources reviewed: which communities hold the traditional knowledge involved.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Antipaludique: conflit autour d'un brevet biopirateLe Quotidien du Pharmacien · 2018-02-21
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- EPO revokes Schwabe's Pelargonium patent after Alice community opposition South Africa · 2006–2010
- European Patent Office (International) — here: decided patent validity; there: revoked the patent after opposition
- Turmeric, neem, basmati, Nap Hal patent revocations India · 2004–2022
- European Patent Office (International) — here: decided patent validity; there: European Patent Office; revoked the Nap Hal wheat patent