Bio-piracy?

[shortly]

I've been pondering weather or not the practice of capturing live cultures of say yeasts or bacteria, or what ever, from commercial products constitutes bio-piracy or not?

Given how protective the big five in the seed industry have become, has me thinking about other possible difficulties with all manner of living products.

Does anyone have any knowledge of or experience with the legalities surrounding these things?

[tripsis]

If they are from patented strains, then yes, I believe it is. If not, I can't see how they would make a case out of it.

[mr me]

If they can invent life in a test tube then I say it belongs to the company. Since they are borrowing from nature then I don't really see how they can claim exclusive rights. I would have issue and so would the company if you did take their efforts and try to pass it off as your own. I highly doubt they will care if you are playing around with cultures in your back shed.

[ThunderIdeal]

it depends if litigation will be profitable for them.

[shortly]

So in the case of Lactobacillus casei "Shirota" there is most likely some form of legal protection for Yakult Corp. I rather suspected that might be the case.

Better be careful what we capture then.

With seed its not weather you create it in the test tube or in the paddock.

It belongs to whomever can sequence it & get a patent application lodged first, most of the patented seed lines (or more correctly seed lines with a patent pending) were created by plant breeders who never had anything to do with a biotech co. Many/most of them having been dead for decades or even centuries.

Edited December 14, 2010 by shortly

[tripsis]

That "Shirota" strain would definitely be patented. Anything profitable to a company/corporation on which the profit is based will be patented. While admitting to using the patented organism for personal use might not result in litigstion, if it goes down the road of profiteering, the possibility of legal action would certainly increase.

[shortly]

I wonder if there is an easy way to find out what is patent or otherwise protected and what is fair game???

& where the line actually is with this kind of thing?

would it ok to produce it for your self but not trade or sell, i figure it probably wouldn't but it does raise the question.

Edited December 14, 2010 by shortly

[mescalito]

How would one know the difference,let alone prove it ?

Interesting thought though!

1984 hmmmmm

[tripsis]

Unless you know the strain name, finding out whether an organism is patented or not would have to be through genetic testing. Not sure what database you could compare the results to though, if there is even such a thing (there must be).

I would expect that unless you had permission from the patent holder, doing anything with a patented organism would be offense.