November 2021 - Npos_2018 - lists.testbiotech.de

updated list of patents on barley
by Christoph Then 23 Nov '21

23 Nov '21

a journalist from Denmark started to ask questions (via Erling). So I added further information to our table. if interested, please see attached list with some more informations on the content of the patent (those which are still relevant). as far as I can see, all are (de facto) based on random mutations (but also include / mention the possibility of targeted genome editing) there are two major categories: taste of beer (these patents claim the barley, the process of brewing and the beer) and improved quality of the barley for the process of brewing (these patents claim the barley and the process for brewing) there is one additional example: in one case, more generally methods for performing random mutagenesis in barley are claimed (but no claims on the barley plants) I did one correction: I found out that one of these examples were listed twice in the list. I deleted it and now the number of still valid application is five and not six.

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no clear information about the agenda of the Patent Law Committee
by Christoph Then 23 Nov '21

23 Nov '21

Dear all I did not manage to get some information about the agenda of patent law committee or the upcoming meeting of the Admin Council. Just more general statements. So I think the timing of our petition is perfect. I was also informed that in July WIPO plans to have something like a ministerial event. This event is not connected to our issues, but maybe we should try to get more information to see if and how we want to connect it to the ministerial conference we demand. cheers Christoph

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suggestion for small changes in the wording of the petition and the PR
by Christoph Then 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

since we do not know 100% whether any surrogate meetings took place... we should be on the safe side... see track changes (and for further explanations see the last mail)

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final draft PR (edited)
by Christoph Then 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

for the quotes I suggest to take those colleagues which are involved in the start of the petition. I guess Johanna has some overview.

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! important for the planned petition
by Christoph Then 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

Dear all first of all, in regard to the initiative of Article 4a (the petition) please do NOT run any communication that somebody from the member states or from the EPO or any other external expert had any idea. This idea originated only from internal discussions of no patents on seeds. Please. But after talking to some non-existing external experts, I have the impression we should be a little bit more cautious in our wording. We should ask ourselves why no such conference has been taken place (in fact nobody seems to know). The answer could be that there is agreement among all member states that so far no such conference was needed an that therefore the Meeting of the Admin Council was regarded as being sufficient: maybe some meetings of the Admin Council had a specific additional function (being seen as equivalent to the meeting of the ministers). So we should not insist that this is breach of law and that no such conference has been taken place. Instead we should say 'to our knowledge' these conferences did not take place. In the end it does not matter, because our demand to organise the conference to take political control is absolutely correct. I will shortly go through our drafts and in case needed, I will send some suggestion for changes. Christoph

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final version of text petition in German and English (now edited)
by Christoph Then 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

latest chanes (only in German version) in red letters

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Sujet an Grafikerin
by Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

Lieber Christoph, zum Sujet gab es jetzt ja keine Anmerkungen mehr. Dann würde ich die Grafikerin bitten, den Text entsprechend anzupassen und uns die benötigten Formate zu machen. Dein Text-Vorschlag passt finde ich sehr gut. Anbei die aktuelle Version des Sujets. Sieht gut aus, finde ich. Für die Tomate war es jetzt zu kurzfristig, aber die können wir bei Bedarf später noch einfügen. Liebe Grüße, Johanna Mag. 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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Questions related to the petition
by francois.meienberg＠prospecierara.ch 22 Nov '21

22 Nov '21

Dear All We just discussed the petition among the swiss members of NPOS. And we have following questions (maybe they have already been answered, but we are not aware of) * Who is exactly the addressee of the Petition? Is it (all) the Ministers of the Parties? Or does each country collect signatures for the petition for their national Minister? (I would prefer the first). Maybe this needs also to be clarified in the petition? * It seems that some organisations collect the signatures individually. So it will be possible to sign at Arche Noah, We Move, No patents on Seeds, ABL and maybe an NPOS member in Switzerland?? (So it will be possible to sign five times but this is maybe not a problem.) And at the end, we collect the number of signatures everybody has collected? What will be collected: Just the number? Or also the address or email of the supporter? Will there be only national handovers? or also a more centralised one ? And what will exactly be handed over, when we handover the petition. -> We think all this needs to be fixed now as it has an influence in which way we collect the signatures. Thanks a lot for some clarification in this regard. François for the swiss members. Von: Npos_2018 <npos_2018-bounces(a)testbiotech.de> Im Auftrag von Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org Gesendet: Donnerstag, 18. November 2021 16:39 An: npos_2018(a)testbiotech.de Betreff: [Npos_2018] AbL joins petition Dear all, FYI: AbL will join our petition as well already on 25 Nov. They will have the info on their website and include a link to the NPOS petition. They might check if they can have their own online form to sign on the website, but this may not be necessary. Best, Johanna Mag. 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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Europäisches Patentamt streicht Ansprüche auf Lachse und Forellen
by Annemarie Volling - ABL 21 Nov '21

21 Nov '21

Liebe alle, hier eine Meldung aus der AgE zum Fischpatent / Here there is a news from AgE on the fish-patent (sorry in german). Europäisches Patentamt streicht Ansprüche auf Lachse und Forellen MÜNCHEN. Das Europäische Patentamt (EPA) hat Einsprüche gegen das umstrittene Lachs-Patent anteilig bestätigt. In einer mündlichen Verhandlung hielt die Einspruchsabteilung der Behörde das Patent am Dienstag vergangener Woche (16.11.) gegenüber der ursprünglich erteilten Fassung lediglich in geändertem Umfang aufrecht. Wie das EPA auf Anfrage von AGRA-EUROPE mitteilte, umfasst die aktuelle Version nur noch ein spezifisches Aufzuchtverfahren, die Futtermittel hierzu und deren Herstellung; Ansprüche auf die erzeugten Lachse, Forellen und Folgeprodukte sind nicht mehr enthalten. Das Patentamt erläuterte, dass die Einspruchsabteilung nicht an die Entscheidung der Prüfungsabteilung, die vor ihr über die Erteilung des Patents entschieden hat, gebunden sei. In einem Einspruchsverfahren gegen ein europäisches Patent werde das Streitpatent von der zuständigen Einspruchsabteilung jeweils im Lichte der Einwendungen neu betrachtet. Dabei könne die Einspruchsabteilung zu einem anderen Ergebnis gelangen wie die Patentprüfer vor ihr. Das Ergebnis kann den Behördenangaben zufolge von den Verfahrensparteien noch mit einer Beschwerde angefochten werden. Das Patent mit der Nummer EP1965658 war 2008 von der australischen Behörde für wissenschaftliche und industrielle Forschung (CSIRO) beantragt worden und umfasst Futtermittel mit der pflanzlichen Stearidonsäure für die Aquakultur. In der ursprünglichen Fassung waren neben Haltungsverfahren auch Ansprüche auf die so gefütterten Lachse und Forellen und das von ihnen stammende Fischöl enthalten. 2019 hatte ein breites Bündnis von 30 Organisationen mit der Unterstützung zahlreicher Einzelpersonen Einspruch gegen das Patent eingelegt. Neben der Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) sind unter anderem der Bundesverband Deutscher Milchviehhalter (BDM) und der Bund Naturschutz in Bayern (BN) beteiligt. AbL-Bundesgeschäftsführer Georg Janßen sprach von einem „wichtigen Erfolg“; allerdings bleibe das Grundproblem bestehen. „Mit der Erteilung von Patenten auf Gerste und Bier, Buschmelonen, Salat oder Fische stellt sich das EPA gegen die Interessen der Gesellschaft“, erklärte Janßen. Er forderte die kommende Bundesregierung auf, zusammen mit den anderen Vertragsstaaten aktiv zu werden, „um hier einen Riegel vorzuschieben“. AgE best Annemarie Volling Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL) e.V.

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latest on Carlsberg / Heineken
by Christoph Then 19 Nov '21

19 Nov '21

Dear all please see attached latest research from Ruth on Carlsberg. There is no indication for further withdrawal. at least so far. We also should consider the following: EP2575433 (our third opposition) also covers plants with the characteristics of the patent as withdrawn. They simply might not need this patent anymore and will try to defend only the third patent (the plants as claimed in the other patents are crossed). Cheers Christoph

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