Uruguay advances in the protection of Innovation and Biotechnology

URUGUAY ADVANCES IN THE PROTECTION OF INNOVATION AND BIOTECHNOLOGY.

The bill for accession to the Budapest Treaty on Patents is approved by the House of Senators of the Uruguayan Parliament.

The House of Senators of the Uruguayan Parliament approved on its side the Bill for the accession of Uruguay to the “Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure”.

The Bill is now being considered by the House of Representatives, and after approval by this House, it will become National Law.

As the World Intellectual Property Organization (“WIPO”) points out, the Budapest Treaty addresses a specific aspect of international patent procedure: the deposit of microorganisms. All States parties to the Treaty must recognize, for the purposes of patent proceedings, the deposit of micro-organisms with an international depository authority, regardless of where that authority is located. In practice, this means that the requirement to deposit the microorganism with each of the national authorities in which patent protection is sought is abolished.

• What is the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure?

In its Message to Parliament, the Executive Branch of Uruguay emphasizes that the scope of application of the Treaty is to regulate the requirement for the deposit of microorganisms in the framework of patent procedures.

The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure was adopted on April 28, 1977 at the Budapest Diplomatic Conference and entered into force on August 19, 1980.

The main feature of the Treaty is that a Contracting State that permits or requires the deposit of micro-organisms for the purposes of patent proceedings must, for that purpose, recognize the deposit of a micro-organism with an “international depository authority” regardless of whether that authority is located within or outside the territory of that State.

In order to eliminate the need for a deposit in each country in which protection is sought, the Treaty provides that the deposit of the micro-organism with an “international depository authority” is sufficient for the purposes of patent proceedings before the national patent offices of all Contracting States and before any regional patent office (if that regional office declares that it recognizes the effects of the Treaty). The European Patent Office (EPO), the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) have made such a declaration.

• Advantages for the applicant of a patent related to microorganisms.

In the Message to the Bill, the Executive Branch indicates that, in short, the Treaty seeks to facilitate patenting procedures for inventions related to microorganisms, making it easier for inventors to comply with the deposit requirement, an issue that is especially relevant when considering the development of Uruguay’s biotechnology industry.

It is added that the Budapest Treaty does not modify the substantive requirements for patentability nor does it provide a definition of microorganisms.  It is added that Uruguay’s accession to the treaty would be an incentive for the creation of national institutions for the deposit of microorganisms that seek accreditation as AID, which is currently not possible because it is not part of the Treaty.

According to WIPO, the patent system of the Contracting State is made more attractive by the Treaty, which is particularly advantageous to the depositor if the depositor has filed patent applications in several Contracting States; the deposit of a micro-organism in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Treaty will reduce its costs and increase its safety. It will save you costs because instead of depositing the micro-organism in each of the Contracting States in which you have filed a patent application relating to that micro-organism, it will be sufficient for you to file it once, with a single depository authority. WIPO concludes that the Treaty increases depository security by establishing a uniform system for depositing, recognising and providing samples of micro-organisms.

There is no doubt that the initiative of the Executive Branch and the parliamentary procedure of the Budapest Treaty constitute a strong and clear sign of Uruguay’s commitment to innovation and the development of technology, in line with the government´s innovation Hub initiative.