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32 SmaJ SrilVatmrapongsepoor farmers. A private company re-prcs~ntat; e gave response to 511Ch c ncem sugge.~ting that thegovcmm nt shuuld be ahle to finJ ways to contI' 1the price similar to other product. .Intellectual Property and Agricultural ResearchIntellectual Property is a broad lerm for th various rights which the law giv s for [he protecti nof cc nomic mvestment in 'reative eft rl. The principal categorie of intellectual propert which arerelevant to agricultural research in~tiUltes are patenlS, pl' nt variety rights and trademarks (Blakeney,1997).Patent:A patellt is a right granted by the government 10 inventors to exclude oth rlo from imitating,manufacturing. u 'ing or selling a specific invention for commercial ll. e during a certain period (vanWijk, Cohen and Komen, 1993). In most countries the protectiun is usually 17-20 year,'. In I'd I' to beeligible for patellt protecti(!Il, the subject matter has to be:• novel and inventive;• not obvious to a per,'on skill 'd in the art; and• imJu'ltrially applicable and uc:;eful.Final r ceipt of a patent in turn requires tha the inventor disclose his invention to the public.Once awarded. patcnt~ are territorial. which meanf: that they can only he honored in countries wherethe patent is 3wanJ d. It is the patent claim itself that defines the aelUal scope of the patent.lind r I.S. pat nt law and in applying the utUity patent, inventors are granted exclusi use oftheir invention fl)r 17 year, , during which time the patent holder ha~ the right to eXClude others fromu. iog the invention. and may profit from the invention by monopolistically selling the product,licensing ()ther~ to use it. or b. selling the patent righb (nutler, 1996). This opened up newopportunities and possibilities for plant breeders and seed companies. For example, F I hybrid' werepatentable for the firsl time. Special phenOl pic characteristics, and broader phenot pic and genotypiccharactcrisLics of plante:; including lant parts could 1e patented.The Agmcment on Trade Related lntellectual Property Rights (TRJPs) states that "patents shallbe a 'ailable for any invention'l, whether products or processes, in all fields of technology ----'j.However, exclusion from patentability of "plants and animals other than microorganisms. andessenliully hiological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non-biological ormicrobiological processes" wu~ made. in addition, it requires that"Memb rs ~hall provide for the protection f plant varieties either by patents or by un effective suig neris system or by any combination thereof'Phmt Variety Protection Sy, terns:Melli I' countries of WTO are obliged to establi, h a legal system that effectively prot ctsintellectual propert in pl::lnt breeding. One of the options open to the WTO members is the system ofplant variety protection (PYP) or plant breeders' rights (PBR) protection. The meaning of PYP andPBR protection is essentially similar and could be lIsed inter-changeably ( van Wijk and Jaffe. 1996).The system has basically developed in industrializ d countries and its impact to agriculture indeveloping countries remains to be seen.PYP or PBR protection, as an alternative to the protection of plant varieties under patent laws, isconferred an exclusive r.ight to do or to license the following acts in relation to propagating material ofthe variety (Blakeney, 1997):• produce or reproduce the material;• condition the marterial for the purpose of propagation;• offer the material for sale;• sell the material;• import the material;• export the matelial;• stock the material for the purposes described above.