BIOTECHNOLOGY IN ANIMAL BREEDING AND LEGA L PROTECTION

The first patented animal (US patent 4, 736.866 for the so called ''on comouse'') has led to worldwide activities as to legal protection of i nventions in animal breeding. In October 1988, the Commission of the E uropean Communities submitted to the Council a draft directive ''on th e legal protection of biotechnological inventions' that would explicit ly allow the patenting of bioengineered life forms - everything from a gene to an entire animal - in the nations of the European Communities (EC). In the following article the problems regarding patenting inven tions in animal breeding and the current situation in creating a speci al breeding right for animals (comparable to special plant variety rig hts) are discussed.