The European Patent Office has ruled that the patent on John Innes Centre’s Beneforte broccoli is valid and enforceable.
Professor Richard Mithen, currently acting director at the Institute of Food research (IFR), created the conventionally-bred new broccoli variety while working at plant research body John Innes Centre (JIC), in Norfolk, during the 1990s.
It is rich in glucoraphanin, a substance which research suggests could help to maintain cardiovascular health and to reduce the risk of cancer.
Under the name, Beneforté broccoli, it is now available in supermarkets in UK, Europe and USA.
JIC’s patent on the glucoraphanin-rich broccoli has been the subject of a legal case in the European Patent Office for several years. The case focused on whether plants, such as this new type of broccoli, could be patented under European patent law, which excludes patents on methods that are 'essentially biological processes”.
This week (w/c 30 March)’s decision by the patent ofice that plants that are or can be made by “essentially biological processes” should not be excluded from patentability means that the patent claims on JIC’s glucoraphanin-rich broccoli are valid.
The JIC’s case has been seen as a test case in intellectual property law in the field of plant science, and a spokesperson for the centre said that the decision represents an important step towards encouraging much-needed innovation in agriculture and horticulture in the European Union.
JIC director, Professor Dale Sanders, said:“This is great news, as it gives much-needed clarity on the scope of patent protection in the European Union for plants and plant products.
“By validating a patent of this kind the decision sends a clear message to the scientific community that their hard work and investment in developing new and scientifically improved plant varieties can be protected. This decision will help scientists attract the investment needed to make their innovations available to consumers.
'Without these patents in place there would be no incentive for the agricultural and food industries to invest in the costly but necessary product development, market research and consumer tests of the products before taking them to market.“
