Japanese beef cows (wagyu) are world-renowned for the care that goes into the nurture of the animals as they head for the table. Massages, beer drinking, and other practices make the meat exceptionally tender and widely favored. However, after a foiled attempt to smuggle inseminated wagyu ova and wagyusperm out to China, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) has been studying means of protecting the “genetic resources” underlying wagyu beef.
The Nikkei Shimbunbusiness newspaper reports that the MAFF held a public hearing on October 25, at which specialists gave their opinions on what to to do prevent illicit outflow of wagyu genetic resources. People warned against constricting domestic opportunities for innovation. The Ministry is concerned that in the past case, officials were not able to prosecute the smuggler based on any intellectual property clause or rule per se, but simply for failure to report the ova and sperm for quarantine. It wants to make sure “genetic resources” can be protected for the sake of economic exploitation by those who work to produce new breeds.
Is the particular genetic content of a while animal even patentable? Technically, no. As the genetic information in a whole fertilized egg or sperm is far more extensive and variable than the limited data that may be covered by patent claims in Japan or elsewhere in the world, the MAFF is trying to arrange a system beyond the range of normal intellectual property law, in order nevertheless to encourage investment in breeding by Japanese wagyu farmers. This probably will mean enforcement of export controls more than a direct treatment of livestock ova or sperm as pure “intellectual property,” suggests the Nikkei Shimbun.
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Taro Yaguchi
Sources
Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. “家畜遺伝資源の知的財産的価値の保護強化に向けた制度の検討について～保護対象、規制すべき行為等～ [Considerations on strengthening protections for intellectual property value in livestock genetic resources: objects, regulated actions, etc.].” Handout from MAFF meeting of October 25, 2019; accessed November 18, 2019.
________. “和牛遺伝資源をめぐる状況 [Situation regarding Wagyu genetic resources].” Handout 2 from MAFF meeting of February 3, 2019; accessed November 18, 2019.
*Image of wagyu comes courtesy of this handout.
Nikkei Shimbun. “「和牛」知財保護、法整備へ動く 受精卵不正持ち出し [Moving toward legal framework to protect IP of wagyu; illicit exporting of inseminated ova].” https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO52111500T11C19A1AC1000/ November 13, 2019; accessed November 18, 2019.
