Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) represent the cumulative contributions of breeders and local communities accumulated over decades, yet no explicit rights framework exists to protect them. The commercialization of cultivated meat technology has bro...
Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) represent the cumulative contributions of breeders and local communities accumulated over decades, yet no explicit rights framework exists to protect them. The commercialization of cultivated meat technology has brought this structural gap to the fore in a new and pressing way. The moment a cell line derived from a specific AnGR breed is converted into corporate intellectual property through immortalization, the contributions of the AnGR provider are systematically erased within the current legal framework. This dissertation aims to dissect this structure of erasure and propose a normative design to correct it.
This study establishes and verifies two hypotheses. First, the current patent law and ABS frameworks fail to regulate the transformation of AnGR-based cell lines within a single, continuous normative system. Second, introducing a regulatory model that verifies both origin confirmation and rights attribution of AnGR-based cell lines at the regulatory approval stage can effectively address the structural disconnect in the current system.
The analysis reveals a dual failure structure of gap and monopoly. Patent law erases AnGR origins through the natural product exclusion doctrine, granting exclusive rights only to technological outputs. Simultaneously, the CBD and Nagoya Protocol, designed around physical resource movement, lose normative effectiveness in the face of "virtual access" enabled by Digital Sequence Information (DSI). An empirical analysis of the patent portfolios of leading cultivated meat companies confirms how this structure operates in practice—companies aggressively patent processes and media while systematically omitting breed-of-origin information from their specifications, a phenomenon this study terms "Laundering of Origin."
To resolve this, the study proposes a Functionality-based Equivalence Model that extracts structural principles from the pharmaceutical patent-approval linkage system and the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) system, adapting them to the conditions of the AnGR-based cultivated meat industry. The model operates on three levels: first, redefining AnGR-based cell lines as independent rights objects—"Digital Seeds"—and establishing a Cell-line Right (sui generis IP); second, proposing CUS requirements (Capability of proliferation, Uniformity, Safety & Stability) as a new evaluation metric replacing the DUS criteria; and third, designing a Regulatory-IP Nexus that converts the regulatory approval stage into a mandatory checkpoint for AnGR origin registration and ABS benefit-sharing compliance.
Building on this theoretical framework, three concrete policy instruments are proposed for the Korean legal system: a Cell-line Traceability and Registration System, an ABS-linked Benefit-Sharing Fund connected to national livestock development funds, and a Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) incorporating a contractual R&D exemption modeled on the UPOV Breeder's Exemption. These three instruments form an integrated governance architecture—operating within a "Registration → Approval → Fund" linkage structure—that systematically corrects the gaps in AnGR governance.
When a normative framework capable of tracing the origins of animal genetic resources and redistributing their value is established, the technological innovation of the cultivated meat industry can finally stand on a sustainable foundation.
Keywords: Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR), Intellectual Property, Access and Benefit-Sharing (ABS), Digital Sequence Information (DSI), Cultivated Meat, Functionality-based Equivalence Model, CUS Requirements, Normative Hybridity, Regulatory-IP Nexus