Edition 8 - November, 2000
Edition 8 - November, 2000 |
BCCM participation in the WFCC and ICCC-9 |
The 9th International Congress for Culture Collections, ICCC-9 was held in Brisbane, Australia, from 23 to 28 July 2000. ICCCs are organized every four years by the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC). The WFCC is an international, multidisciplinary federation within the International Union of Microbiological Societies and the International Union of Biological Sciences. It is dedicated to promoting culture collections and the interests of their users. The WFCC supports international programs for the conservation and use of microbial, cellular and genetic resources. More than 500 collections enjoy WFCC membership. Over 170 delegates representing both the industry and non-profit organizations from 35 countries participated in ICCC-9, the satellite workshops and the associated training courses.
The BCCM collections were well represented at this event. Mrs. Françoise Symoens, Assistant Curator of the BCCM/IHEM biomedical fungi and yeast collection, presented the BCCM consortium structure and illustrated the synergistic effects of host-lab/collection collaboration with a number of case studies.
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Mr. Philippe Desmeth, BCCM International Cooperation Programme Officer co-chaired
the forum on "Managing Intellectual Property in Culture Collections" that discussed
different forms of intellectual property protection.
Prof. Jean Swings, Director of the BCCM/LMG bacteria collection, was elected
President of the WFCC. For the next four years, it will be his duty to encourage
the WFCC board members and committees to continue their tasks and to promote
the activities of culture collections worldwide.
Mr. Philippe Desmeth was selected chairperson of the WFCC Committee on Patents
and Intellectual Property Rights, and Dr. Danielle Janssens, Curator of BCCM/LMG,
will be a member of the Committee on Transport, Quarantine and Safety Regulations.
Dr. Peter Vandamme, postdoctoral research fellow at BCCM/LMG’s host lab (the
Laboratory of Microbiology of the Ghent University), received the WFCC Skerman
Award for Taxonomy. Peter’s work clearly illustrates the advantages of collaboration
between culture collections and taxonomic research groups.
The BCCM presented a one-day workshop on intellectual property rights (IPRs) related to microbial genetic resources (MGRs) as a satellite meeting to the Congress on Friday, 28 July 2000.
The objectives of this workshop were to provide information about IPRs related to MGRs and to promote European standards for accessing and exchanging MGRs, as they are compiled and proposed by the MOSAICC project (Micro-Organisms Sustainable Use and Access Regulation, International Code of Conduct). This project is coordinated by the BCCM and financed by Directorate General XII for Science, Research and Development of the European Commission. (See also BCCM News N° 3.)
Philippe Desmeth opened the workshop with an overview of the current international
conventions dealing with IPR and MGRs. He then concentrated mainly on the TRIPS
Agreement, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB) and the Budapest Treaty
and demonstrated how these conventions are related to each other. He also showed
how the MOSAICC project facilitates the access to, and the transfer of, MGRs
in the framework of the Convention.
Dr. Jenö Bobrovszky, Head of the Industrial Property Law Implementation Section of the
World Intellectual Property Organization described the fundamental difference between
tangible ("ownership") and intangible ("intellectual property") rights and presented
the criteria for the patentability of biotechnological inventions. He also explained
how the Budapest Treaty could be used as a tool to disclose inventions that concern or
involve the use of microorganisms. As these organisms cannot be described with text or drawings,
the disclosure can be provided only by the depositing of a sample of the micro-organism
with a culture collection recognized as an "International Depositary Authority" (IDA).
According to the Budapest Treaty, depositing with one IDA will suffice for patenting
purposes in all of the States that are party to the Treaty. Mrs. Marleen Bosschaerts,
BCCM Quality and Regulatory Affairs Manager explained the practical aspects of the depositing
of microorganisms for patenting purposes.
A vade mecum on the international property rights related to microbial genetic resources is now in preparation. It will summarize all the information that has been compiled. This information will be made available on the Internet via the MOSAICC web site http://www.belspo.be/bccm/mosaicc, A discussion forum will be set up on the same site.
Finally, we would like to thank all delegates who attended the workshop and actively participated in the discussions. We also acknowledge the highly appreciated contribution of the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, and the financial support of the European Commission Directorate General XII for Science, Research and Development.
Contact
BCCM Coordination team
Mr. Philippe Desmeth
Tel.: +32 10 47 89 36
Fax: +32 10 45 15 01
E-mail: desmeth@mbla.ucl.ac.be
Mrs. Marleen Bosschaerts
Tel.: +32 2 238 36 07
Fax: +32 2 230 59 12
E-mail: bosc@belspo.be
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