Campuses:
a proposal by
Tom Michaels
Professor of Plant Agriculture
University of Guelph
V1.2, 6 October 1999
Text of paper presented at 1999 BIC Conference, Calgary AB
[TEM note: this page is posted as an historical record. The text is unmodified from the original, but the html code and contact information have been updated. My affiliation as of October 2003 is Department of Horticultural Science, University of Minnesota]
I am proposing a new germplasm exchange agreement called General Public License for Plant Germplasm (GPLPG) as a mechanism to encourage the continued unencumbered and free exchange of plant germplasm. GPLPG can coexist with current release protocols, seed certification systems, and intellectual property protection mechanisms such as plant breeders rights, plant variety protection and plant patents. The fundamental feature of the GPLPG agreement is that any cultivar a breeder releases that incorporates any germplasm obtained under GPLPG, must likewise be made available to other breeders under GPLPG, and without further restriction, for use in their breeding program.
Public sector plant breeders and geneticists traditionally cooperate in advancing the art and science of plant breeding and freely exchange plant germplasm. Many public institutions have a history of releasing competitive, locally adapted cultivars of self- pollinated, clonally propagated and cross-pollinated crops through distribution systems providing and promoting wide public access to this improved plant germplasm. Over the past 20 years, intellectual property protection applied to plant germplasm in the form of plant breeders rights and plant variety protection upheld the right of others to use the bona fide samples of the protected germplasm in subsequent breeding programs. Particularly, but not exclusively, due to the advent of molecular genetic advances allowing isolation and transfer of novel genes, and the opportunity to obtain more exclusive novel gene sequence and germplasm ownership and protection, the mindset of the public sector plant breeding community has become increasingly proprietary.
This proprietary atmosphere is hostile to cooperation and free exchange of germplasm, and may hinder public sector crop improvement efforts in the future by limiting information and germplasm flow. A new type of germplasm exchange mechanism is needed to promote the continued free exchange of ideas and germplasm. Such a mechanism would allow the public sector to continue its work to enhance the base genotype of economically important plant species without fear that these improvements, done in the spirit of the public good, will be appropriated as part of another's proprietary germplasm and excluded from unrestricted use in other breeding programs.
The computer software development community provides us with a potential model for cooperative germplasm exchange in its GNU (GNU's Not Unix) software project.
Programmers initiated the GNU project in 1983 in response to the increasingly proprietary mindset of the software development community. Those responsible for the project intended to rejuvenate the cooperative spirit in the computing community and remove the obstacles to cooperation imposed by the owners of proprietary software.
GNU software is freely distributed under a General Public License (GPL). It is "free" in the sense that users have the freedom to access, redistribute and modify GNU software. Distributors may charge a fee for the physical act of reproducing and distributing the software, but may not charge a royalty. Anyone who redistributes GNU software, with or without modification, must also extend to the next user the freedom of access, redistribution and modification. GNU software is copyrighted by the author and distribution terms are added that give the right to use, modify, and redistribute the program's code or any program derived from it, but only if the distribution terms are unchanged.
I am proposing a General Public License for Plant Germplasm (GPLPG). Through this new release mechanism I hope to nourish the cooperative spirit in the public plant breeding community despite increasing opportunities and pressures for breeders to obtain proprietary protection and restrict access to their novel germplasm. GPLPG can coexist with current release protocols such as seed certification systems, as well as intellectual property protection mechanisms such as plant breeders rights, plant variety protection and plant patents. GPLPG can be envisioned as a Materials Transfer Agreement (MTA) that accompanies the transfer of germplasm from one breeder to another. This MTA would specify that the germplasm has been designated as GPLPG and that by using this germplasm in a crossing program, the breeder receiving the germplasm acknowledges that any cultivars derived in whole or in part from GPL plant germplasm must likewise be made available to others under GPLPG and without further restriction for use in subsequent breeding programs.
1. You may designate as GPLPG any germplasm for which you are the breeder and for which there are no obligations that cannot be satisfied simultaneously under the terms and conditions of the General Public License for Plant Germplasm. Each unit of of GPL plant germplasm exchanged must be accompanied by your name and contact information as well as notices that inform the recipient about the terms and conditions of GPL plant germplasm, and how to view a copy of this License. You must also deposit a sample of germplasm that you release as GPLPG in your national or other publicly accessible plant gene resources collection.
2. You may charge a fee for the physical act of reproducing and distributing the germplasm, as well as charging a royalty to a third party for the right to reproduce and distribute your unmodified GPL plant germplasm.
3. You may cross bona fide GPL plant germplasm with other germplasm and select novel germplasm from the resulting recombinant breeding material, genetically modify bona fide GPL plant germplasm through transformation, mutation or other means, or select naturally occurring or somaclonal variants in bona fide GPL plant germplasm, thus creating unique germplasm that is based in whole or in part on previously existing GPL germplasm. You may release and distribute this modified and novel plant germplasm in the manner of your choice providing that:
4. You may not release and distribute novel germplasm based wholly or in part on GPL plant germplasm except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt to do so will render non-bona fide the GPL plant germplasm you originally received. Use of non-bona fide germplasm will place your program in contempt of ethical standards of plant breeding and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
5. If you cannot distribute modified germplasm so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the germplasm at all. For instance, if a patent license for a novel gene sequence introduced into GPL plant germplasm would not permit further modification followed by unrestricted release of this modified GPL plant germplasm by all those who receive bona fide seed directly or indirectly through you, then the only way to satisfy both obligations would be to refrain entirely from the distribution of the modified GPL plant germplasm.
note: bona fide plant germplasm is germplasm obtained directly from the breeder, plant gene resources collection where deposited, or purchased with an appropriate and generally accepted designation of trueness-to-type such as certified seed.
Please direct comments and suggestions to:
Professor Tom Michaels
Department of Horticultural Science
University of Minnesota
michaels@umn.edu
Last update 14 July 2010
