License agreements: segmentation within the international market of seeds

Abstract

The self-replicating nature of seeds poses a challenge for the traditional configuration of Intellectual property rights, as it overlooks the boundary that prevents amateurs from replicating the technology embedded on it. The territorial scope of IP rights and the lack of an international consensus regarding the exhaustion of IP right aggravates the issue. This loophole enhances the segmentation of markets through license agreements of patents and plant varieties which multinationals employ to drag resources all along the market chain, by demanding payment of fees to each shackle. This might constitute an infringement of Competition Law regimes which is undertaken differently according with the tradition of each country but always with the aim of protecting the well-functioning of their internal market.

Keywords

• License agreements
• segmentation of markets
• exhaustion of rights
• patents
• plant varieties.