The Patent Legislation sets forth as patentability exclusion both vegetal varieties and animal species, i.e., animal and vegetal varieties, and essentially biological procedures for producing animals or plants are not patentable.
Concerning animal species, the Law does not provide a definition. However, transgenic animals are patentable, because the protection is not for animal, but for the gene introduced therein, which is the essence of the invention.
Concerning vegetal varieties, these are protected by a sui generis protection system (Obtainer Right) which protects the inventions related to the vegetal kingdom, through the acknowledgement of rights for obtainers of new vegetal varieties.