Here we are. The mega companies are patenting everything now.
https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/patent-cases/bushy-melon
I don’t think it matters in EU. Can’t remember what it’s called, but in EU you can use anything to breed and there is no intellectual protection. Only applies if you want to commercially produce over certain limit.
In the US, I my understanding there are three types of patent that can be applied for plants. None of them lasts for more than 20 years, but only one (utility patent) can prevent the patented plant from being used in third-party seed-based breeding. In that case there is no prohibition, as I understand it, on home gardeners growing and saving seeds. I’m not positive about that last part especially, please don’t take it as advice!
I would be interested in having some discussions here about the practical considerations of independent plant breeding in a world of plant patents. I don’t think I know anything at all outside of US law, and very little of that.
Edit: Working with OSSI-pledged varieties in ways that respect the intention of the license would be another good topic. As with patents, it’s less about what you do in your own garden with those seeds than it is if you want to commercialize. For my part, I have enjoyed creating some technical writing and source code that I could offer with an open license in past project. If I ever developed any new plant variety worth distributing, I know I would be interested in putting it into the intellectual ‘commons’ as well
BASF just bas been granted a patent on bush growing watermelons by the EPO. European Patent Organisation decided against the opposition by the group NoPatentOnSeeds.
The article states it was just a lucky find in a garden they patented. On top of that they’ve patented a méthode to obtain seeds which is in the public domain of knowledge.
As a général rule this was not the case in Europe, you could not patent non GMO corps.
Something changed.
As the EU obtains ever more power things will become increasingly interesting for lobbyist to overturn in the favor of the lobbyists, lobbying on behalf of the ever increasing mega companies.
Simply put, they win, we lose.
It’s not that you couldn’t, it’s how and in which cases it has any meaning. I went down that rabit hole last winter when I was searching what effect registered varieties have and found that there is a law that for breeding you can use any varieties because it’s considered to be for common benefit and advance. You couldn’t however produce that variety or it’s seeds for sale over certain limit. I can’t remember what the limit exactly was, but it was quite big like acre or significant portion of an acre. So you could even be market farmer and legally sell, but big farmers couldn’t. It all can be found in govermental websites, I just don’t remember which anymore.
I believe you, but they’re encroaching on our rights little by little. We’re on the slippery slope.