Coffee - Independent claim

IP aspects

The Nara Institute of Science and Technology has granted patents in Australia, United States, and Japan related to genetic transformation of coffee with A. tumefaciens. In the Australian granted patent there is no limitation on the species of Coffea to be transformed or on the gene to be introduced into the plants. The major limitation of the granted invention lies in the strain of A. tumefaciens used for the transformation process.

Furthermore, the patent application has only been filed in countries where coffee is not a major agricultural product, at least not at the same scale as the well-known coffee producing countries. For instance, in Australia there are only two places with commercial production. One is located in north of Queensland and the other one is in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales. The production of coffee in Australia was around US$800,000 dollars worth in 1998/1999, while the world coffee trade is estimated at around US$13 billion dollars per year. Thus, the patents on the present invention will likely have very little impact for the most important coffee producers' countries.

Specific Patent Information

Patent Number

Title, Independent Claims and Summary of Claims

Assignee

US 6392125

Earliest priority - 28 December 1998
Filed - 22 December 1999
Granted - 21 May 2002
Expected expiry - 21 December 2019

Title - Method for producing the transformants of coffee plants and transgenic coffee plants

Claim 1

A method for producing a transformant of Coffea arabica, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) infecting an embryogenic callus of Coffea arabica with Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA101 strain that comprises a vector containing an exogenous gene and a gene available for the selection of transformed embryonic callus to produce a transformed embryogenic callus in a medium containing N6 -[2-isopentenyl]-adenosine,

(b) selecting said transformed embryonic callus,

(d) regenerating a transformed Coffea arabica from said somatic embryo.

Granted patent US 6392125 recites an Agrobacterium-mediated method to produce a transformant of Coffee arabica. The A. tumefaciens strain is limited to EHA101.

Nara Institute of Science and Technology

AU 729635 B2

Earliest priority - 28 December 1998
Filed - 23 December 1999
Granted - 8 February 2001
Expected expiry - 22 December 2019

Title - Method for producing the transformants of coffee plants and transgenic coffee plants

Claim 1
A method for producing a transformant of a coffee plant, the method comprising the steps of:
(a) infecting an embryogenic callus of a coffee plant with Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA101 strain comprising a vector comprising an exogenous gene to produce a transformed embryogenic callus;
(b) forming a somatic embryo from said transformed embryogenic callus; and
(c) regenerating a transformed coffee plant from said somatic embryo.

Granted patent AU 729635 does not limit the type of coffee plant to be transformed with A. tumefaciens EHA101, and there is no statement on the components of the medium used for infecting the coffee plant callus.

Remarks

Related application in Canada (CA 2291932) is pending.
Related patent has been granted in Japan (JP 3286733) on 27 May 2002.
Other related patent document published in Switzerland (CH 694207).

Note: Patent information on this page was last updated on 14 March 2006.

The information contained in this page was believed to be correct at the time it was collated. New patents and patent applications, altered status of patents, and case law may have resulted in changes in the landscape. CAMBIA makes no warranty that it is correct or up to date at this time and accepts no liability for any use that might be made of it. Corrections or updates to the information are welcome. Please send an email to info@bios.net.

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