1QUESTION OF: Policies and Restrictions on Genetic Patents 2MAIN-SUBMITTER: China 3CO-SUBMITTERS: Singapore, Turkey, India, Brazil, Argentina 4CO-SPONSORS: Iraq 5 1THE ECONOMIC AND FINANICAL COMMITTEE, 2 3Fully aware of the rapid growth of society, in which the limiting of ideas for genetic 4development would be detrimental to the expansion of mankind and the human desire 5for knowledge; 6 7Fully respecting the intellectual property rights and national interests that member 8states and independent firms may exercise; 9 10Believing in the necessity of genetic patents for innovative incentive to channel 11research into new and unexplored areas; 12 13Acknowledging the effect genetic patenting has on biotechnology companies' stock 14market valuation, and that threatening the concept would cause market upheaval, 15Recognizing the opportunities for establishing trade and multilateral relations in 16global collaboration; 17 18Taking note of existing entities such as the WIPO, EAPO, EPO, USPTO, JPO and 19ARIPO and their influences on the matter; 20 21Acknowledging the necessity to protect traditional, indigenous and biological means 22of information; 23 24Stressing the importance in establishing a cohesive system that will allow for rapid 25growth in all industries that can benefit from genetic research; 26 27Stressing the importance in maintaining an open and fair system of regulations which 28do not put any one country at an unjust advantage; 29 30 1. Calls for the creation of the International Patent Office (IPO) to be joined by 31 all member states, whose roles will include but will not be limited to: 32 a. conducting extensive reviews on all existing treaties and genetic 33 patents over the past 5 years, 34 b. providing a second layer of rigorous scrutiny for national patents to 35 meet international standards mentioned in sub-clauses i-vi of clause 4, 36 c. representing member states through the majority rule voting 37 procedures of new laws/regulations regarding genetic patents; 38 39 2. Suspends all rights of general and commercial protection given to genetic 40 patents over the past 5 years by participating nations of the IPO until their 41 validity as patentable inventions is confirmed by the IPO; 42 43 3. Requests for an increase in transparency in the patenting process through co44 operation with non-government organizations, deemed to be an asset in terms 45 of providing the following information that is required to be explicitly 46 disclosed: 47 a. the country providing the biological resource and/or the associated 48 traditional knowledge,
6QUESTION OF: Policies and Restrictions on Genetic Patents 7MAIN-SUBMITTER: China 8CO-SUBMITTERS: Singapore, Turkey, India, Brazil, Argentina 9CO-SPONSORS: Iraq 10 49 b. from whom in the providing country the resources were obtained, 50 and, as known after reasonable enquiry, the country of origin, 51 c. information of evidence of compliance with legal requirements in the 52 providing country for prior informed consent for access and fair and 53 equitable benefit- sharing arising from the commercial or other 54 utilization of such resources and/or associated traditional knowledge; 55 56 4. Requires all genetic patent applications of all member states be subject to a 57 rigorous process to ensure the quality and originality of new patents including 58 the following steps: 59 a. requires that all patents fit certain criteria upon filing to ensure the 60 quality of filed patents, including: 61 i. the invention described must be a product of human 62 intervention, 63 ii. the invention must be novel, 64 iii. the invention should be difficult for another inventor to 65 duplicate the knowledge contained within a patent without 66 help, 67 iv. the invention must be useful or have an industrial purpose, 68 b. implements a period of three months in which the details of a patent, 69 as described in clause 3, are visible to the general public and can be 70 objected to by any party with sufficient evidence for the invalidity of 71 the patent, 72 73 5. Establishing the United Nations Patent Protection Firm (WIPPF), a sub74 committee of the IPO, whose roles will include but not be limited to the 75 following: 76 a. designating the terms of protection ranging from 1 to 5 years in which 77 the following rights are enforced: 78 i. exclusivity to only perform academic and medical research by 79 the applicant of the patent 80 ii. restriction of third parties from making, using, selling or 81 distributing unless with the permission of the applicant of the 82 patent 83 b. designating the term of commercial protection ranging from 1 to 5 84 years in which the following rights are enforced: 85 i. exclusive rights for the applicant of the patent to 86 commercially distribute or sell the patent, 87 ii. restriction of third parties from commercially distributing or 88 selling the patent, 89 iii. restriction of third parties to only perform academic and/or 90 medical research, 91 c. allowing full exemption from the restrictions above under 92 circumstances including but not limited to the following: 93 i. provision of specific patents for agriculturally-based LEDCs 94 for internal agricultural and economical development, 95 ii. urgent demand from the general public,
11QUESTION OF: Policies and Restrictions on Genetic Patents 12MAIN-SUBMITTER: China 13CO-SUBMITTERS: Singapore, Turkey, India, Brazil, Argentina 14CO-SPONSORS: Iraq 15 96 iii. assumed knowledge and simple biological processes, 97 iv. organisms considered dangerous biological hazards, 98 v. Emergency protocol, in which the discretion lies with only the 99 Secretary-General or the WHO Director-General, 100 d. overseeing the period described in clause 4b in which patents under 101 application can be challenged, in which case: 102 i. the challenger to the patent may present a case, to which the 103 applicant for the patent may present a counter-case at the 104 International Criminal Court, 105 ii. in the event that the applicant is unable to respond to a 106 challenge, the patent applicant may choose to have a 107 representative from the IPO present the case for the 108 acceptance of the patent, 109 iii. the decision to accept proposals and reject a patent filing will 110 fall on a justice from the ICC; 111 112 6. Encourages individual scientists to explore and present new genetic patents for 113 the benefit of human knowledge and offers protections to individuals and 114 legally defined small firms including: 115 a. representation by an IPO lawyer in the case that an entity is accused of 116 patent violation but is unable to afford legal representation, 117 b. entertaining protests of invalidity 118 119 7. Further recommends that in order to prevent the abuse of patents, patent 120 holders existing in any member state are subject to minor restrictions such as: 121 a. imposing a moderate fine upon a firm if an accusation of patent 122 infringement is overturned on the grounds of irrelevance or patent 123 invalidation, 124 b. preventing the resale of patents, to limit the extent to which pure 125 litigation firms can obtain and abuse the patent protection system, 126 127 8. Decides to remain actively seized on the matter.