Biological breeding is a technological innovation activity that utilizes modern biotechnology to breed new varieties of animals and plants, and is one of the strategic emerging industries spurred by modern biotechnology. Biological breeding is not only related to the future development of the biotechnology and new energy industries, but also to food security and national security. From 2011 to 2013, China issued three consecutive documents focusing on seed industry safety to address the current crisis faced by seed industry development, fully demonstrating the country's increasing awareness of the importance of seed industry safety. Currently, it is urgent to accelerate the implementation of the intellectual property protection strategy for biological breeding, promote technological innovation in the seed industry, and ensure national seed industry security.

Intellectual property protection is the fundamental means for developed countries to maintain seed industry security. Intellectual property, as a fundamental rule of international trade, is increasingly becoming a strategic weapon in international trade competition and an important symbol of a country's international core competitiveness. In recent years, the competition for world biological resources has become increasingly fierce. Developed countries have implemented control over the seed industry chain and value chain globally through intellectual property means, accelerating their occupation and plundering of the seed industry market in developing countries, forming a monopoly pattern in biological breeding, and posing a serious threat to the seed industry security of developing countries, including China. Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding and building a protective net and barrier for seed industry safety are important means for developed countries to maintain their seed industry safety. For example, developed countries such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands implement a "dual track system" of specialized laws and patent laws for the protection of new biological varieties; Italy, Hungary, New Zealand, and other countries have implemented specialized intellectual property legislation to protect new biological varieties. Developed countries, relying on their advantages in biotechnology, strive to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding, occupy and monopolize international biological resources, shift from controlling agricultural end products to controlling agricultural source seeds, and compete to build their own core advantages in international biotechnology competition, laying a solid foundation for winning international competition.

The inadequate protection of intellectual property rights has led to a growing security crisis in China's seed industry. The protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding in China started relatively late, and the incentives for independent innovation in the seed industry are insufficient. The existing protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding is still in the rough stage of protecting new varieties, and a comprehensive protection system for biological breeding intellectual property rights from germplasm resources to the promotion of new varieties has not yet been established. In reality, there are still many legal gaps and institutional defects. The inadequate protection of intellectual property rights in our country makes it difficult for the value of intellectual property rights to be fully realized, resulting in insufficient motivation for enterprises to participate in seed industry technological innovation. The serious disconnect between industry, academia, and research has led to a lack of core technology in biological breeding in our country, and the accumulation of independent intellectual property rights is relatively small. The leading ability and international competitive advantage of seed industry technology are weak. The inadequate protection of intellectual property rights has led to some counterfeit and fake seeds impacting the seed industry market, dampening the enthusiasm for independent innovation in the seed industry. As a result, domestic seed industry enterprises have insufficient investment in technology research and development, and there are few leading seed industry enterprises that integrate breeding, propagation, and promotion. National seed industry enterprises lack strong technological support and international core competitiveness. The inadequate protection of intellectual property rights has also led to a serious outflow of germplasm resources from China. Foreign monopolistic enterprises have entered China with strong intellectual property protection and controlled many key areas. The seed industry crisis is approaching, which in turn threatens national agricultural security. For example, after the wild soybean germplasm resources in China were stolen by foreign institutions, they applied for the intellectual property rights of new soybean varieties, causing the embarrassment that the Chinese must pay for the intellectual property rights of their own seeds first. Currently, almost all seed industries in China, such as soybean seeds, corn seeds, flowers, vegetables, etc., are infiltrated by foreign monopolistic seed industry groups, who occupy core technological advantages and devour a large amount of seed industry interests in our country. In this context, China urgently needs to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding.

The focus of intellectual property protection in biological breeding is to stimulate independent innovation in the seed industry. Innovation is the soul of a nation, and the important function of intellectual property is to incentivize and protect technological innovation. The primary task of protecting intellectual property rights in China's biological breeding industry is to establish a scientific and technological innovation system for biological breeding, stimulate and protect technological innovation in biological breeding, promote the integration of research and development with production in the seed industry, and cultivate independent intellectual property rights and commercialization potential in the seed industry. Currently, the weakness and crisis of China's seed industry lies in insufficient technological innovation, limited independent intellectual property rights, and a lack of core competitiveness in international seed industry competition. Therefore, using intellectual property rights to incentivize independent innovation in the seed industry has become an urgent task. Protecting the safety of the seed industry has a public nature and is an important component of the national security strategy, which requires the government's efforts; Meanwhile, intellectual property in biological breeding is an intangible asset that must follow market mechanisms and laws. Therefore, to increase the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding and encourage independent innovation in the seed industry, it is necessary to accelerate the organic connection between the government and the market, and form a driving mechanism for the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding. We need to strengthen the government's driving force, increase policy support and basic research and development investment for intellectual property protection and innovation in biological breeding. To fully leverage the driving force of the market, optimize the allocation of biotechnology and resources, and stimulate the vitality within enterprises. At the same time, we should give full play to the initiative of farmers and enhance the support for intellectual property protection and innovation in biological breeding.

Strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding requires a "three pronged approach" of policies, laws, and management. The protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding is a systematic project that involves the interests of multiple parties such as the government, research institutions, enterprises, and farmers. Therefore, strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding to ensure national seed industry security must shift from simple seed industry security protection to enhancing agricultural comprehensive competitiveness, and from supporting biological breeding technology to supporting agricultural scientific and technological innovation strategies. It is necessary to take the market as the guide and enterprises as the main body, break the international technological monopoly, stimulate the innovation vitality of domestic breeding technology, and establish a comprehensive guarantee system from the aspects of policy, law, and management. To this end, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive intellectual property protection system for biological breeding, especially to improve the policy system for the protection and benefit sharing of related genetic resources, and strengthen administrative support; To improve legislation related to biological breeding, strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property laws and judicial protection; We need to strengthen innovation management in biological breeding, improve international cooperation and exchange management in biological breeding, strictly prevent the theft of germplasm resources, and establish a comprehensive intellectual property management and monitoring system for biological breeding.

The protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding is a war of international interests and sovereignty, which must be elevated to the level of national security strategy. It is necessary to effectively combine domestic intellectual property rules with international trade rules, accelerate the transformation of agricultural development mode, implement high-end factor integration strategy, continuously improve the level of independent intellectual property rights in the seed industry, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding, and ensure the security of the national seed industry. At the same time, it is also necessary to prevent the alienation caused by excessive protection of intellectual property rights in biological breeding, and effectively protect the rights and interests of farmers. (Author: Lu Fuxing) (Source: Guangming Daily)