Patent licences: access to “innovation” subject to conditions
A patent enables its holder to “protect” an invention and thus to control its use by third parties. Third parties may, however, use the invention if they sign a licence agreement. In the field of biotechnology, this issue becomes particularly sensitive. In addition to the problems of ownership of living organisms raised by patents, a single plant may also be covered by several patents held by different parties. The situation becomes complicated for anyone wishing to use an “invention”. The new European regulation on GMOs produced using new techniques falsely claims to facilitate access to licences. But what exactly is a licence, what does it cover, and under what conditions can it be granted?
