There is already, moreover, a government agency that grants Plant Variety Protection
certificates,79 and new laws passed in 2000, Laws Nos. 24481 and 24575, allow the
patenting of biotechnology products and organisms, including pharmaceutical
products.80 Apparently, these laws could provide a legal vehicle for patenting plant
varieties, but the prohibitions of the Patent Law of 1995, the UPOV 78, and the Decree
260/96, which all prohibit the patenting of plant varieties, generate uncertainty over the
ability to obtain a patent.81 Congress has been dealing with some pressure from seed
producers to approve a new law with the UPOV 1991 guidelines, which support the
existence of multiple systems for property rights protection (Figure 2). Nonetheless, even
if this legislation has passed, the courts will have to interpret the patent law and decide if
the prohibition of patenting plants can be extended to plant varieties. As a consequence,
the legal framework is far from creating sweeping changes in the way property rights are
regulated and enforced.
79 See id.
80 See VICIEN (2003), at 19.
81 See id.
18