USDA PVP Office Waives Deposit Requirement for Asexually Reproduced Plants
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) has waived the deposit requirement for asexually reproduced plants until further notice due to “continued and ongoing technical challenges and infeasibilities.” The announcement specified that any future requirements for a deposit will not... ›
Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk: Federal Circuit Finds Milk Vitamin Patent Invalid
By: Meghan McLean Poon Ph.D.
In ChromaDex Inc. v. Elysium Health Inc. ,[1] the Federal Circuit found U.S. Patent No. 8,197,807 (the “’807 patent”), which is directed to a dietary supplement comprising an isolated vitamin, invalid for lack of subject matter eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. ChromaDex, a... ›USDA and USPTO Promoting Fair Competition and Innovation in the Seed Marketplace
By: Michael Ward Ph.D. and Claire L. Bendix Ph.D.
Update : USDA announced on March 23, 2023 that the Interagency Working Group on Competition and Intellectual Property in Seeds and Other Agricultural Inputs was officially launched. On March 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released its report on “ More and... ›EU MDR and IVDR Implementation: Signs of Relaxing Transitioning Regime and Bridging Measures
By: Wolfgang Schönig and Robert Grohmann
Concerns over possible medical device shortages in the EU have led to two recent developments that will affect the implementation of the Medical Device Regulation [1] ( MDR ) and In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Device Regulation [2] ( IVDR ) : The EU Employment,... ›Relabeling vs. Repackaging: CJEU Backs Drug Manufacturers’ Position Against Parallel Importers
By: Robert Grohmann
In two recent landmark decisions, Novartis v. Abacus (C ‑ 147/20) and Bayer v. kohlpharma (C-204/20), the Court of Justice of the European Union ( CJEU ) strengthened the position of drug manufacturers against repackaging practices of parallel importers. The court held that, based... ›USDA’s PVP System Embraces Transgenic and Gene Edited Plants
By: Liz Freeman Rosenzweig Ph.D., Christopher D Lew, Abby C. Burrus Ph.D. and Michael Ward Ph.D.
This is an excerpt from a longer piece. For more information on the history and landscape of PVPs on transgenic plants, read more. Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is a form of intellectual property protection administered through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for... ›Top Three IP Issues for AgTech Startups
By: Matthew A. Ferry and Edith A. Pierre-Jerome Ph.D.
Innovation, agriculture, and technology took center stage at San Diego’s first AgTech Hackathon. The event took place October 21 – 23 in the city of Escondido, a key farming hub in San Diego County looking to attract agtech startups to the region. The event... ›Germany: Ministry of Health Grants First Glimpse on the Upcoming Cannabis Legalization and Seeks Green Light from the European Commission
By: Robert Grohmann
MoFo research assistant Tim Stripling contributed to this article. In November 2021, in its coalition agreement, the newly elected German Federal Government announced its plans to legalize cannabis for recreational use. Since then, it has been hotly debated by the cannabis industry in Germany... ›Sawing Through Patent Term—the Federal Circuit’s Recent Decision In Sawstop
By: Mehran Arjomand and Meghan McLean Poon Ph.D.
Patent Term Adjustment (PTA) is additional patent term for U.S. patents to compensate for delay in issuance. The statute (35 U.S.C. § 154(b)) provides three bases for PTA: delayed response by the USPTO (“A delay”), failure to issue a patent within three years (“B delay”),... ›Purple Tomato Is First Genetically Engineered Plant to Be Deregulated Through USDA’s New Regulatory Status Review Process
By: Liz Freeman Rosenzweig Ph.D.
On September 7, 2022, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) announced the completion of the first Regulatory Status Review (RSR) of a genetically engineered plant under the SECURE rule. APHIS concluded that a new genetically engineered tomato... ›