PATENT DEPOSITS HOME PAGE

INTRODUCTION

To guarantee full disclosure of an invention involving microorganisms, the Budapest Treaty provides for the deposit of (micro)biological material with a recognised culture collection, known as an "International Depositary Authority (IDA)". An IDA must make the material publicly available at the appropriate point in the patenting procedure.

Since March 1, 1992 the BCCM^TM consortium has been nominated as an "International Depositary Authority". The BCCM^TM collections can therefore accept bacteria, filamentous and yeast fungi, human and animal cell lines (including hybridomas) and genetic material (e.g. plasmids, oncogenes, RNA) as patent deposits under the Budapest Treaty.

CONTENTS

• Full text of the Budapest Treaty and its Regulations

• A practical BCCM™ manual

• The BCCM™ as an IDA

• Forms needed to deposit with the BCCM^TM

• Code of Practice for IDAs

• Links to other interesting sites about patent deposits