Dear all
please see draft new report in German and English.
I already got first comments which I tried to integrate.
The English version already had some editing, but yellow parts still
deserve corrections by native speaker. The German version did not yet
undergo any corrections.
In the table about the tomatoes, I will integrate some more information
on the chromosomes, so maybe we will update the figure from the report
2022. Figure 1 can be depicted form the website of Ruth, some footnotes
still need to be added.
There are some surprising issues:
* KWS filed a second patent on high digestibility maize (we are in
contact with the company to see if they are ready to withdraw their
first patent),
* In July, it was announced that Rijk Zwaan will be granted patent
EP3720272 (WO2019110821) on tomatoes with resistance to the Tomato
Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (thanks to Anne Charlotte for pointing this
out). This patent has a claim on the natural QTL genes without being
induced by random mutagenesis or NGTs (!). I think this is in
contradiction to the other case law we saw (such as on the flowers
from Klemm). Furthermore, it has a claim on the production of those
plants which would include the plants from crossing and selection
(the Rijk Zwaan patent attorney wrote to the EPO that a claim worded
on 'growing plants' is not using the term crossing and selection
and can be granted. However, the examples shows that the only way
to derive to these plants is crossing and selection). I adds to the
confusion that another patent of Rijk Zwaan with the same trait is
already in Pinto impacting 32 varieties without being granted yet.
The Rijk Zwaan patent should be granted soon and might be used a
scandalous hook to present the report in public. We also should file
opposition. I guess this patent can not survive and will not become
'mainstream' for the decision making at the EPO. Therefore, its impact
on the political debate is likely to be limited.
Currently we plant to present the report in Brussels to impact the
ongoing discussions between the member states. We already approached
Poland for this purpose.
Because our target audience is Brussels, we should keep the report quite
technical. I also include a suggestion for the image on the title.
To get things moving, we have to expose the role of random mutagenesis,
this will remain the main entry points for granting patents. I included
a table to show the differences between random mutations and targeted
mutations in the context of patent law.
please send your comments till end of the week.
Cheers
Christoph
