March 2020 - Npos_2018 - lists.testbiotech.de

updated powerpoint
by Christoph Then 11 Mar '20

11 Mar '20

Dear all please see my updated powerpoint as presented by the meeting. The statistics, demands etc will also go to the report. Update was necessary since Ruth identified 5 patent applications on plants which were withdrawn before making it to the EP. This version is just for your own information, do not distribute. We are working on 8 examples on plants and 3 from animals, also try to create some visuals. If needed, we could prepare a powerpoint based on the new report which you can use for own presentations. Let me know if this is needed. we also can do that in German. Minutes from the meeting are sent by Johanna. Cheers Christoph

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first round of examples explained for the report
by Christoph Then 08 Mar '20

08 Mar '20

Dear all in our meeting we discussed that cases of random mutagenesis might become most important in the upcoming weeks. So I started to work on the examples for the report. please see attached - just for reading and general comments - my rough first draft. you also can see a preliminary table of the overall content /structure of the report and list of examples I selected to work with in the next days (not concerning random mutagenesis). I guess the report it will become a minimum of ten pages .. I would be interested to know who besides Ruth, Johanna and Anne Charlotte wants to get involved in discussing the further drafts? Since we have some time pressure, we should try to work straight forward. happy to get your general comments cheers Christoph

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Administrative Council is cancelled
by Christoph Then 07 Mar '20

07 Mar '20

Dear all, please see below. Nevertheless, I guess we continue with our plan to be ready with report end of March. We then might send it directly to the member of the AC. for public activities with broader public outreach we might wait for the meeting taking place in 30 June 1 July. on the website of the EPO with the Calendar, there were inserted additional technical support meetings. This might indicate that they expect need for decision making. This year is likely to become crucial. Cheers Christoph PS Johanna prepared the minutes of the meeting. We should ready to send it around next week. -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: AC: your proposal for a side event Datum: Wed, 4 Mar 2020 21:34:04 +0000 Von: COUNCIL <council(a)epo.org> An: Christoph Then <info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org> Kopie (CC): COUNCIL <council(a)epo.org>, Rainer Osterwalder <rosterwalder(a)epo.org> Dear Mr Then, Please see below a message sent on behalf of the AC chairman. Kind regards, Cornelia Umbach <<Dear Mr Then, I am writing concerning your invitation to a side event in the margins of the March Administrative Council, for which I thank you. Please be informed that the Council meeting foreseen in March will not now take place as scheduled and that no delegate of Member States, including me, will come to Munich due to the rapid spread of the corona virus. The Office communicated on this issue on its website today. Kind regards, Josef Kratochvil<<< -----Original Message----- From: Christoph Then <info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org> Sent: 03 March 2020 14:25 To: Josef Kratochvil <jkratochvil(a)upv.cz> Cc: COUNCIL <council(a)epo.org>; Rainer Osterwalder <rosterwalder(a)epo.org> Subject: our proposal for a side event dear Mr Kratochvil No Patents on Seeds! was proposing to organise a side event in the context of the meeting of the Admistrative Council in March. In this regard, we were happy to receive a phone call from Mr. Osterwalder who promised to ask for decision making about our proposal in very near future. We would be interested in getting some update and if possible to receive your decision, so we can prepare for next steps. with kind regards, Christoph Then

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Guidelines for Examination
by Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org 04 Mar '20

04 Mar '20

Dear all, the EPO is asking for comments in regard to the Guidelines for Examination until 15 April 2020 following its commitment to include users feedback: EPO homepage <https://www.epo.org/news-issues/news/2020/20200302.html> . The guidelines have last been modified in Nov. 2019 and can be found here <https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/guidelines.html> . In an article <https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=1851744e-6a30-4c71-b6ce-c197 a8292661> the changes are briefly summarized as follows: Plant and animal varieties (G-II, 5.4) Further information has been included in the Guidelines relating to the patentability of plant and animal varieties. Specifically, the Guidelines state that for living matter to be patentable, it must be reproducible in a way that has exactly the same technical features. Reproducibility can be assured by: * Deposit of the living matter (this must be publically available and the skilled person must be able to reproduce the invention starting from it). * Disclosing in the application the gene sequence responsible for the claimed trait and instructions on introducing altered sequence in a target organism. Additional information has also been included regarding exclusions from patentability. Controlled hybrids with inbred parents are excluded from patentability as they define either a seed or a plant which necessarily belongs to a particular plant grouping within the meaning of plant variety pursuant to Rule 26(4). Plant varieties are excluded under Article 53(b) EPC and this exclusion cannot be avoided by drafting a claim to a large number of varieties. If a claim comprises at least one embodiment which does not constitute a variety, it is allowable under Article 53(b) EPC. Here is a comment by Christoph (in German): Das ist tatsächlich interessant. Ich hatte damit gerechnet, dass man die die für eher vorteilhaften Passagen abschwächen würde. Das ist nicht der Fall. Im Gegenteil. Die neuen Präzisierungen bezüglich Hinterlegbarkeit besagen im Ergebnis, dass man tatsächlich die DNA Sequenz kennen muss, weil die gewünschten Merkmale sonst auch auf mehrere DNA Sequenzen verteilt sein können, die sich dann in den nachfolgenden Generationen auch wieder aufspalten können und die Eigenschaft nicht erhalten bleibt. Auch die Definierung der Sorte im Hinblick auf Linien, die bei der Hybridzucht eingesetzt werden, scheint hilfreich. Welche Auswirkungen das auf die Praxis / unsere Fälle haben wird, müssen noch sehen. Ich denke aber, zumindest der Punkt mit der Hinterlegbarkeit ist für uns relevant. ----- Here is the direct link <https://www.epo.org/law-practice/legal-texts/html/guidelines/e/g_ii_5_4.htm > to the part that is relevant for us (Part G Patentability / Chapter II Inventions / 5. Exclusions and exceptions for biotechnological inventions / 5.4. Plant and animal varieties or essentially biological processes for the production of plants and animals p.743 in pdf with track changes <http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/8654640290C2DBE7C125 84A4004D2D9A/$File/epo_guidelines_for_examination_2019_hyperlinked_showing_m odifications_en.pdf> ). Here is the version including track changes <http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/8654640290C2DBE7C125 84A4004D2D9A/$File/epo_guidelines_for_examination_2019_hyperlinked_showing_m odifications_en.pdf> from 2019. The so-called Disclaimer is still in the guidelines (p.658 in pdf with track changes <http://documents.epo.org/projects/babylon/eponet.nsf/0/8654640290C2DBE7C125 84A4004D2D9A/$File/epo_guidelines_for_examination_2019_hyperlinked_showing_m odifications_en.pdf> ): 4.12 Product-by-process claim A claim defining a product in terms of a process is to be construed as a claim to the product as such. The technical content of the invention lies not in the process per se, but rather in the technical properties imparted to the product by the process. Claims defining plants or animals produced by a method including a technical step which imparts a technical feature to a product constitute an exception in so far as the requirements of Article 53(b) are concerned. If a technical feature of a claimed plant or animal, e.g. a single nucleotide exchange in the genome, might be the result of either a technical intervention (e.g. directed mutagenesis) or an essentially biological process (a natural allele), a disclaimer is necessary to delimit the claimed subject-matter to the technically produced product (see examples in G-II, 5.4.2.1, and G-II, 5.4). For the general principles governing disclaimers see H-V, 3.5, and H-V, 4. [...] Best, Johanna Johanna ECKHARDT Project Coordination Tel. +43 680 21 26 343 <mailto:johanna.eckhardt@no-patents-on-seeds.org> johanna.eckhardt(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org NO PATENTS ON SEEDS! <http://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/> www.no-patents-on-seeds.org <http://www.facebook.com/nopatentsonseeds> www.facebook.com/nopatentsonseeds <http://www.twitter.com/nopatentsonseed> www.twitter.com/nopatentsonseed

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test
by Christoph Then 03 Mar '20

03 Mar '20

list was offline should work now

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