Deposition of cultures in the restricted collection
The CBS has been a depository for patent strains since 1955. In the early years,
deposition of strains was governed by national patent laws. In the seventies
patent regulations became more internationalized, resulting in the establishment
of the European Patent Convention (EPC). In 1978 the CBS was accepted by the
European Patent Office (EPO) as a depository authority under this convention. In
the eighties an additional, worldwide system came into being: the "Budapest
Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Micro-organisms for
the Purpose of Patent Procedures". As from October 1981, the CBS acquired the
status of International Depository Authority (IDA) under the regulations of the
Budapest Treaty for fungi, yeasts and Actinomycetes, since 1984 for bacteria
other than Actinomycetes and since 1991 also for plasmids and phages.
Deposit of cultures under the regulations of the Budapest Treaty
When a patent application involves the use of a new micro-organism, it is
required that this micro-organism is deposited at a recognized collection. The
Regulations of the Budapest Treaty lay down in detail the procedures which
depositors and depositary authorities must follow, e.g. forms to be completed,
the duration of the deposit and mechanisms for furnishing samples.
When the CBS When the CBS receives a culture for storage in the restricted collection, the
viability of the culture will be checked immediately. A completed BP/1 form is
required for each culture deposited. The official date of the deposit is held to
be the date on which the CBS receives the micro-organisms themselves, even
though the forms may not have been received. If the result of the viability test
is positive, we will send you a BP/4 form (“Receipt in the case of an original
deposit”) and a BP/9 form (“Viability statement”). The CBS will take care that
the cultures will be stored confidentially for a period of at least 30 years.
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Converting
a previous deposit
Deposits made outside the provisions of the Budapest Treaty may be converted by
the original depositor to Budapest Treaty deposits, whether or not they were
originally deposited for patent purposes. Strains that are already available
without restriction cannot be withdrawn from the public collection. In such
cases the converted deposit will be given a new accession number. All converted
deposits are subject to the storage fee normally levied for Budapest Treaty
deposits, with the exception of deposits previously made under the European
Patent Convention. Depending on the applicable national patent law, the date
recognized for the purposes of the Treaty as the date of deposit, is either the
date on which the CBS received the micro-organism or the date on which the CBS
received the request for conversion. The administrative requirements for
conversion are the same as those to be met in respect of an original deposit
made under the Treaty, except that requirements relating to import and/or
quarantine procedures do not apply.Price for conversion of a deposit
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When making a new deposit, the depositor is required to complete model form BP/2
and to send copies of the relevant documents (Rule 6.2); otherwise the procedure
is similar to that when making an original deposit.
A new deposit is a replacemant of an Original deposit.
Safe deposit of cultures
The CBS offers a confidential Safe Deposit service for those valuable cultures
for which patent protection has not been sought. The cultures will be stored as
a “Safe-Deposit” in the restricted collection of the CBS. For each culture
deposited you will receive after the viability test a “Declaration of Safe
deposit”. CBS will than take all care to keep them viable and uncontaminated for
the minimum period as chosen by the depositor. After this minimum period, the
period of storage will be prolonged for a period of 5 years unless the depositor
has informed the CBS that the deposited strain should not be maintained anymore.
This request should be received by CBS before the end of the current period. The
CBS shall only destroy the strain on request of the depositor. An invoice will
be sent at the beginning of each new period. A safe-deposit can be converted, on
request of the depositor, into a patent strain deposit under the regulations of
the Budapest Treaty with the same depositary institution. A special BP/1 form is
obtainable at the CBS. As soon as the viability of the deposited strain has been
checked the date of request will be the date of conversion. From that date the
strain will be stored in the restricted collection under the regulations of the
Budapest Treaty for at least 30 years.
A safe-deposit can be converted to a patent strain deposit under the regulations
of the Budapest Treaty
(see
above).
Maintenance deposit of cultures
Sometimes customers wish to guarantee that cultures are available to third
parties. To ensure the availability these cultures can be stored as Maintenance
Deposit in our open and as a backup in the restricted collection. The CBS will
take all care to keep them viable and uncontaminated for a period of at least
one year after the most recent payment of the annual maintenance fee. The
cultures will appear in the catalogues and will be publicly available without
restrictions. The depositor has the right to end the deposit at any time on his
request. This request must be received by the CBS before the end of the current
year. The invoice for the annual maintenance fee will be sent at the beginning
of each year.
A completed Maintenance Deposit form is required for each culture deposited.