AI in Agriculture

• Vidisha Bhate
 Main Issues

1. Regulation and Standardisation

2. Farmers’ Rights

3. Public Policy
Regulation and Standardisation

• Central and State Legislations

• FSSAI & ISO standards for food production and

processing
 Farmers’ Rights
• Section 3, Patents Act

• No patent protection for live plants, seeds, and

methods of agriculture

• Plant Varieties Act, 2001

• Prescribes requirements and procedure for protection

• Mandates benefit sharing

 Public Policy
• Aims of the Agricultural Policy of Centre and States

• Technological upgrade

• Increasing output

• Accessibility, ease of use

• Licensing — voluntary and compulsory — of

patented agricultural equipment
IP Evaluation — AI4ICPS

• Vidisha Bhate
 Purpose
1. Before launch of product

• IP Strategy — techno-legal process of selecting the most suitable form of IP protection

• Optimum business policies to adopt

• R&D Budget decisions

2. After launch
IP Management — To
• Maximising value, adjusting predictions be modelled on the
existing framework of
• Develop v. Sale decisions evaluating Intellectual
Property as an Asset
3. In business dealings

• Valuation of companies

• Technology transfer, licensing

 Process

• IP Evaluation process is not regulated by law

• Process is subjective, depends on —

a. Nature of the invention

b. Its market

c. Legal constraints in the area of the invention

 Clarifications
1. As I understand, the output of the internship ought to be a
framework of steps that may be followed for evaluating the
IP that TIH may generate.

2. To achieve it —

a. Overview of existing methods

b. Adopting suitable methods with required

modifications
 IP Strategy — Considerations
Q. In my opinion, these and other considerations will need to be analysed
separately for every invention, or at least every broad category of inventions.
Do you agree?

Sample Considerations:

1. What is the average lifespan of the AI based invention before new

technology is likely to make it obsolete?

2. What is the likelihood of the AI based ICPS being independently

reverse-engineered?

3. How important is it to have monopoly over the literal code that supports
the invention?
 IP Strategy
1. Patent — certificate from the State,
preventing others from commercialising a
protected invention for 20 years
• High evidentiary value — proof of
inventorship
• Ease of licensing —information about the
invention remains in the public domain
• Quid pro quo with State — anyone may use
the information to further innovate, and
commercialise the invention after 20 years
• Subject matter restrictions — not all
technology is patentable
2. Trade Secret — a contractual arrangement
of confidentiality
• Minimum State interference — potentially
any technology that is not in the public
domain may be so protected
• Short gestation period — can be
commercialised as quickly as terms are
agreed to
• Potentially evergreen — no statutory
duration, like 20 years of patent
•
Threat from independent reverse
engineering — cannot legally prosecute
 IP Strategy

3. Copyright

• Where literal protection is useful

4. Trademarks

• Market recognition

• Brand value, reputation building