The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify him of the receipt, on December 2, 1980, of a written communication from the Government of the United States of America, relating to the Agricultural Research Culture Collection, indicating that the said depositary institution is located on the territory of the United States of America and including a declaration of assurances to the effect that the said institution complies and will continue to comply with the requirements concerning the acquisition of the status of international depositary authority as specified in Article 6(2) of the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, done at Budapest on April 28, 1977.
The Agricultural Research Culture Collection will acquire the status of international depositary authority under the said Treaty as from January 31, 1981, the date of publication of the said communication in the January 1981 issue of Industrial Property/La Propriété industrielle (see Article 7(2) of the said Treaty).
December 8, 1980
Text of the Written Communication of the Government of the United States of America dated November 26, 1980, relating to the Agricultural Research Culture Collection
COMMUNICATION
As provided in Article 7 of the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, the United States proposes as an international depositary authority the Agricultural Research Culture Collection. We offer our assurances that this Collection can and will meet every requirement of the Treaty and Rules thereunder for international depositary authorities. Accordingly, my Government requests that you, as soon as possible, take the steps necessary to confer this status on the Agricultural Research Culture Collection.
The Agricultural Research Culture Collection is located in the United States at 1815 North University Street, Peoria, Illinois 61604. It was the first United States depository to receive deposits in connection with patent applications, which it has done continuously since 1948. Its reputation for scientific and administrative competence is undisputed and world-wide.
The Agricultural Research Culture Collection is a public depository operated by the United States Department of Agriculture. It contains what is believed to be the world's largest collection of living strains of agricultural and industrial microorganisms. Its collection is preserved almost entirely in freeze-dried form to provide stable viable microbial germ plasm.
This Collection grows continuously in the number of microorganisms stored. The initial few thousand deposits of molds and yeasts have increased to about 28,000 strains of molds, 13,000 strains of yeasts, 8,300 strains of bacteria and 6,500 strains of actinomycetales. Several thousand new strains are received each year. A small but important group of these (about 200 per year) are deposited in connection with patents. The Collection's staff includes six micro-biologists and five technical aides.
We call your attention to the fact that this Collection has never failed to observe any requirement of a national patent law or to apply the highest scientific or administrative standards to the receiving, storing, testing and dispensing of deposits.
The Collection has agreed to store deposits made under the Treaty for at least 30 years after deposit. My Government is completely convinced that the Collection has the capacity for doing so with the care needed to keep deposits viable and uncontaminated.
Attached is the Collection's statement of the kinds of deposits that will be accepted under the Budapest Treaty. These will be accepted from all depositors under the same conditions, without regard to nationality.
The Collection will accept recombinant strains of microorganisms, excluding those listed as unacceptable, only (1) if the deposit documents accompanying the microbial preparation include a clear statement that progeny of the strain can he processed at a physical containment level of PI or less and (2) all other criteria specified in the National Institutes of Health publication "Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA Molecules" and subsequent revisions of these Guidelines are complied with.
At least for the time being, no fees will be imposed in connection with these deposits. Please be further advised that the Collection conducts business only in English.
We request that recognition of the Agricultural Research Culture Collection as an international depositary authority be conferred as of the date of publication of this communication.
Kinds of micro-organisms accepted for deposit for the purposes of patent procedure
The Agricultural Research Culture Collection (NRRL) is willing to accept for deposit, in connection with patent applications; progeny of strains of agriculturally and industrially important bacteria, yeast, molds, and Actinomycetales, EXCEPT:
a.
Actinobacillus (all species)
Actinomyces (anaerobic/microaerophilic-all species)
Arizona (all species)
Bacillus anthracis
Bartonella (all species)
Bordetella (all species)
Borrelia (all species)
Brucella (all species)
Clostridium botulinum
Clostridium chauvoei
Clostridium haemolyticum
Clostridium histolyticum
Clostridium novyi
Clostridium septicum
Clostridium tetani
Corynebacterium diptheriae
Corynebacterium equi
Corynebacterium haemolyticum
Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis
Corynebacterium pyogenes
Corynebacterium renale
Diplococcus (all species)
Erysipelothrix (all species)
Escherichia coli (all enteropathogenic types)
Haemophilus (all species)
Francisella (all species)
Herellea (all species)
Klebsiella (all species)
Leptospira (all species)
Listeria (all species)
Mina (all species)
Moraxella (all species)
Mycobacterium avium
Mycobacterium bovis
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Mycoplasma (all species)
Neisseria (all species)
Pasteurella (all species)
Pseudomonas pseudomallei
Salmonella (all species)
Shigella (all species)
Sphaerophorus (all species)
Staphylococcus aureus
Streptobacillus (all species)
Streptococcus (all pathogenic species)
Treponema (all species)
Vibrio (all species)
Yersinia (all species)
b.
Blastomyces (all species)
Coccidioides (all species)
Cryptococcus (all species)
Histoplasma (all species)
Paracoccidioides (all species)
c. Basidiomycetes or other molds that cannot successfully be preserved by lyophilization (freeze-drying).
d. All viral, Rickettsial, and Chlamydial agents.
e. Agents which may introduce or disseminate any contagious or infectious disuse of animals, humans, or poultry and which would require a permit for entry and/or distribution within the United States of America.
f. Agents which are classified as Plant Pests and which would require a permit for entry and/or distribution within the United States of America.
g. Mixtures of microorganisms.
h. Fastidious microorganisms which would require (in the view of the Curator) more than reasonable attention in handling and preparation of lyophilized material.
i. Phages of any kind.
j. Plasmids and like materials.