Q.What is a 'biopatent'? Explain it with a suitable example.

Biopatents grant exclusive legal ownership over biotechnological inventions, protecting commercial rights but also raising bio-piracy concerns.

A biopatent (or biological patent) is a form of intellectual property right granted by a government/patent authority to an inventor or organisation for a novel biological invention or process — this could be a newly engineered gene, a genetically modified organism, a diagnostic technique, or a biotechnological process. The patent gives the holder the exclusive legal right to make, use, or sell the invention commercially for a specified period (usually 20 years), and others must obtain a licence or pay royalties to use it. Biopatents encourage investment in biotechnological research by allowing innovators to recoup costs, but they have also generated controversy — for example, patents on genetically modified Bt cotton varieties (developed to resist the bollworm pest) are commercially licensed to farmers/companies, and cases of patents being sought on traditionally known biological resources (such as neem or bas …