A broadly based, multidisciplinary business sector which is subject to regulation in certain technical areas on a jurisdictional basis, and is impacted by a variety of factors at every level.   

An overriding fundamental issue for the sector is how global food production can be intensified to feed a projected nine billion people by 2050, whilst dealing with impacts of climate change.   

Improvements in efficiency and sustainability in agriculture continue to drive ingenious solutions that harness various cutting-edge technologies, such as genomics and CRISPR gene editing, big data, algorithms and AI.  As such, inventions in this sector increasingly involve crossover technologies, requiring the pooling of expertise and effort amongst HGF’s life scientists, chemists and electronics and software attorneys. 

Regulatory aspects govern many plant protection product inventions, and additional levels of IP protection can be available via Supplementary Protection Certificates (SPCs).  There are also potential Convention on Biological Diversity and Nagoya Protocol constraints which can present particular R & D hurdles, and IP issues for inventions which use certain biological materials and their derivatives.  

HGF has the corresponding necessarily specialised and multidisciplinary team of attorneys and lawyers for dealing with IP in this sector. The AgBio and Agritech team is comprised of technically and commercially experienced attorneys, including senior ex-Global 500 company attorneys who provide additional levels of commercial experience and acumen.  Where IP issues are more legal rather than technical, our team adjusts to include or be led by solicitors who are highly experienced in contract negotiation, litigation or management level briefings on IP issues developing technology areas.    

HGF’s attorneys deal with inventions in accelerated plant breeding procedures, genetically engineered or modified crops, actives and formulations for plant protection products, diagnostics, precision and digital agriculture, genetically engineered or modified animals, improved husbandry methods and carbon neutral systems.