Budapest Treaty
Encyclopedia
The Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, or Budapest Treaty, is an international treaty
signed in Budapest
, Hungary
, on April 28, 1977. It entered into force on August 9, 1980, and was later amended on September 26, 1980. The treaty is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO).
As of June 2011, 75 countries were party to the Budapest Treaty. The Budapest Treaty will enter into force with respect to Morocco, the 74th contracting state, on 20 July 2011. The accession to the Treaty is open to States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
of 1883. The African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO), the Eurasian Patent Organization
(EAPO) and the European Patent Organisation
(EPO) have filed a declaration of acceptance under Article 9(1)(a) of the Treaty.
The treaty allows "deposits of microorganism
s at an international depositary authority to be recognized for the purposes of patent
procedure". Usually, in order to meet the legal
requirement of sufficiency of disclosure
, patent applications and patents must disclose in their description the subject-matter of the invention
in a manner sufficiently clear and complete to be carried out by the person skilled in the art (see also: reduction to practice
). When an invention
involves a microorganism, completely describing said invention in the description to enable third parties to carry it out is usually impossible. This is why, in the particular case of inventions involving microorganisms, a deposit of biological
material must be made in a recognised institution. The Budapest Treaty ensures that an applicant, i.e. a person who applies for a patent, needs not to deposit the biological material in all countries where he/she wants to obtain a patent. The applicant needs only to deposit the biological material at one recognised institution, and this deposit will be recognised in all countries party to the Budapest Treaty.
". The Treaty does not define what is meant by “microorganism
.”
The range of materials able to be deposited under the Budapest Treaty includes:
There are many types of expression systems: bacterial; yeast; viral; plant or animal cell
cultures;
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
signed in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, on April 28, 1977. It entered into force on August 9, 1980, and was later amended on September 26, 1980. The treaty is administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization
World Intellectual Property Organization
The World Intellectual Property Organization is one of the 17 specialized agencies of the United Nations. WIPO was created in 1967 "to encourage creative activity, to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world"....
(WIPO).
As of June 2011, 75 countries were party to the Budapest Treaty. The Budapest Treaty will enter into force with respect to Morocco, the 74th contracting state, on 20 July 2011. The accession to the Treaty is open to States party to the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris, France, on March 20, 1883, was one of the first intellectual property treaties. It established a Union for the protection of industrial property...
of 1883. The African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO), the Eurasian Patent Organization
Eurasian Patent Organization
The Eurasian Patent Organization is a regional organization set up by the Eurasian Patent Convention . Its task is to grant Eurasian patents...
(EAPO) and the European Patent Organisation
European Patent Organisation
The European Patent Organisation is a public international organisation created in 1977 by its contracting states to grant patents in Europe under the European Patent Convention of 1973...
(EPO) have filed a declaration of acceptance under Article 9(1)(a) of the Treaty.
The treaty allows "deposits of microorganism
Microorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
s at an international depositary authority to be recognized for the purposes of patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
procedure". Usually, in order to meet the legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
requirement of sufficiency of disclosure
Sufficiency of disclosure
Most patent law systems require that a patent application disclose a claimed invention in sufficient detail for the notional person skilled in the art to carry out that claimed invention. This requirement is often known as sufficiency of disclosure or enablement, depending on the...
, patent applications and patents must disclose in their description the subject-matter of the invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
in a manner sufficiently clear and complete to be carried out by the person skilled in the art (see also: reduction to practice
Reduction to practice
In United States patent law, the reduction to practice is a concept meaning the embodiment of the concept of an invention. The date of this embodiment is critical to the determination of priority between inventors in an interference proceeding....
). When an invention
Invention
An invention is a novel composition, device, or process. An invention may be derived from a pre-existing model or idea, or it could be independently conceived, in which case it may be a radical breakthrough. In addition, there is cultural invention, which is an innovative set of useful social...
involves a microorganism, completely describing said invention in the description to enable third parties to carry it out is usually impossible. This is why, in the particular case of inventions involving microorganisms, a deposit of biological
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
material must be made in a recognised institution. The Budapest Treaty ensures that an applicant, i.e. a person who applies for a patent, needs not to deposit the biological material in all countries where he/she wants to obtain a patent. The applicant needs only to deposit the biological material at one recognised institution, and this deposit will be recognised in all countries party to the Budapest Treaty.
International depositary authority
The deposits are made at an international depositary authority (IDA) in accordance with the rules of the Treaty on or before the filing date of the complete patent application. Article 7 of the Budapest treaty outlines the requirements for a facility to become an International Depositary Authority. As of March 1, 2008, there were 37 IDAs in approximately 20 countries worldwide.Depositable subject matter
IDA's have accepted deposits for biological materials which do not fall within a literal interpretation of "microorganismMicroorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
". The Treaty does not define what is meant by “microorganism
Microorganism
A microorganism or microbe is a microscopic organism that comprises either a single cell , cell clusters, or no cell at all...
.”
The range of materials able to be deposited under the Budapest Treaty includes:
- cells, for example, bacteriaBacteriaBacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
, fungi, eucaryotic cell lines, plant spores; - genetic vectors (such as plasmidPlasmidIn microbiology and genetics, a plasmid is a DNA molecule that is separate from, and can replicate independently of, the chromosomal DNA. They are double-stranded and, in many cases, circular...
s or bacteriophageBacteriophageA bacteriophage is any one of a number of viruses that infect bacteria. They do this by injecting genetic material, which they carry enclosed in an outer protein capsid...
vectors or viruses) containing a gene or DNA fragments; - organisms used for expression of a gene (making the protein from the DNA).
There are many types of expression systems: bacterial; yeast; viral; plant or animal cell
cultures;
- yeastYeastYeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
, algaeAlgaeAlgae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...
, protozoaProtozoaProtozoa are a diverse group of single-cells eukaryotic organisms, many of which are motile. Throughout history, protozoa have been defined as single-cell protists with animal-like behavior, e.g., movement...
, eucaryotic cells, cell lines, hybridomas, viruses, plant tissue cells, spores, and hosts containing materials such as vectors, cell organelleOrganelleIn cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit within a cell that has a specific function, and is usually separately enclosed within its own lipid bilayer....
s, plasmids, DNA, RNA, genes and chromosomes; - purified nucleic acids; or
- deposits of materials not readily classifiable as microorganisms, such as “naked” DNA, RNA, or plasmids
See also
- American Type Culture CollectionAmerican Type Culture CollectionThe American Type Culture Collection is a private, not-for-profit biological resource center whose mission focuses on the acquisition, authentication, production, preservation, development and distribution of standard reference microorganisms, cell lines and other materials for research in the...
(ATCC) - Centraalbureau voor SchimmelculturesCentraalbureau voor SchimmelculturesThe Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, or CBS, is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Translated into English, the name means "Central Bureau of Fungal Cultures". The Center is located in Utrecht....
(CBS) - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Scientific Community (DSMZ)
- World Federation for Culture CollectionsWorld Federation for Culture CollectionsThe World Federation for Culture Collections is an international body formed under the umbrella of the International Union of Biological Sciences and a Federation within the International Union of Microbiological Societies....
(WFCC) - National Collection of Yeast Cultures (NCYC)
External links
- Budapest Treaty on WIPO web site
- The Budapest Treaty and Australian Patents (IP AustraliaIP AustraliaThe Australian Patent Office is a division of IP Australia which is an agency of the Australian Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. APO issues patents for inventions. APO was established in 1904 by the Commonwealth of Australia and since 1998 has been located in one building,...
) - A Short Guide to International IPR Treaties (US government)