Although by the early 1970s the depositing of microorganisms in culture collections for
patent purposes had become fairly common, there was no uniform system of deposit, or,
perhaps more importantly, of recognition of deposit. Most countries requiring or
recommending deposit required it to be made in a “recognized” collection, but the minimum
criteria to be met by such “recognized” collections were vague and ill defined. In most cases,
“recognized” probably equated with “internationally known.” The culture collections for
their part, when confronted with the variety of national patent laws, were often unsure of how
to proceed in respect of the furnishing of samples to requesting parties. Lack of firm
guidelines led some collections to allow the depositor almost complete control over the
furnishing of samples of his microorganism, believing this to be the surest way of protecting
themselves from the danger of releasing a sample illegitimately