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Conference call 31 March 2021 / Report 2021, Opportunity to comment
by Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Dear all, in preparation of tomorrow's conference call (agenda point 3.4. Report 2021, Opportunity to comment) I am forwarding you the answer we received from BASF. 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 From: Peter Ogg [mailto:peter.ogg@vegetableseeds.basf.com] Sent: Monday, March 8, 2021 4:16 PM To: 'Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org' <johanna.eckhardt(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org> Cc: 'Christoph Then' <info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org> Subject: RE: [EXT]: Opportunity to comment, Report No patents on seeds! Dear Mrs. Eckhardt, Dear Johanna, Thank you for providing me with the excerpt of the draft report, and the opportunity to comment on it. Whilst we take note of its content and appreciate the advance notice of its publication, it will come as no surprise that we do not subscribe to the opinions and views expressed in the excerpt. But rather than commenting on our differences of opinion in detail, I hereby kindly express our view on the patentability of plant traits in general. Every year we invest many millions of Euros in research and development of new plant-based innovations in order to create better varieties that will help to sustainably feed an ever growing population. Plant-based innovations (including the cultivation of wild disease resistance traits) support more sustainable agriculture through offering higher yields and by saving resources. Such innovations are supported by the protection offered by Intellectual Property Rights. Patents help to maintain an incentive for investment in innovation, allowing for a broader diversity in plants to be developed to meet various agricultural demands today and in the future. We strongly support that patent protection be awarded for plant-based innovations that meet the criteria of novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability. Patents are limited both in duration and in jurisdiction and are the primary reason for companies to publish the results of their research as a patent application. This ensures that research results are publicly available for all universities, startups and other competitors (large and small) to be used as a source of inspiration and as a breeding ground for further innovation. This ensures more efficient (co-)development with an increasing speed of innovation. If Intellectual Property Rights on plant based innovations would not be available, companies are much more likely to keep their research efforts secret, leading to inefficient, simultaneous development and waisted resources and this puts small companies and startups at a disadvantage. We furthermore wish to note that our Vegetable Seeds Business is a member of the International Licensing Platform (www.ilp-vegetable.org <http://www.ilp-vegetable.org> ) under which we are committed to grant licenses to any fellow members in respect of all our trait-patents. This ensures that our innovations are available for further breeding and is in line with our mission to make healthy eating more sustainable and enjoyable. Should you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us. Finally, I also sincerely appreciate the invitation for an opportunity to exchange views in an informal conversation and I would be more than happy to schedule a virtual meeting should you indeed wish to have a conversation on the topic. Best regards, Peter Ogg Team Lead Intellectual Property Senior Legal Counsel R&D / Attorney-at-Law Phone: +31 475 599 665 Mobile: +31 6 14 62 29 84 Email: <mailto:peter.ogg@vegetableseeds.basf.com> peter.ogg(a)vegetableseeds.basf.com Napoleonsweg 152, 6083AB Nunhem, The Netherlands www.nunhems.com <http://www.nunhems.com> From: Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org <johanna.eckhardt(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org <mailto:johanna.eckhardt@no-patents-on-seeds.org> > Sent: Friday, February 26, 2021 4:23 PM To: Peter Ogg <peter.ogg(a)vegetableseeds.basf.com <mailto:peter.ogg@vegetableseeds.basf.com> > Cc: 'Christoph Then' <info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org <mailto:info@no-patents-on-seeds.org> > Subject: [EXT]: Opportunity to comment, Report No patents on seeds! Dear Mr. Ogg, I am contacting you on behalf of NO PATENTS ON SEEDS!, a coalition of European organisations working for clear regulations in European patent law to exclude conventional breeding from patentability. We are planning to publish a report analysing patent applications on food plants in 2020. The report targets the current legal situation at the European Patent Office and includes several examples of patent applications made by companies. Your company features in this report and we would appreciate your feedback on the factual correctness of the relevant paragraphs (attached) before publication. Please come back to us until 5 March 2021. Please note that this document is not public and is a draft for internal use only. We would very much welcome an exchange of views or any additional information you would like to share with us as well after that deadline. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Best regards, Johanna Eckhardt 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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interesting patent application on Barley (Carlsberg)
by Christoph Then 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Dear all tomorrow (as today), at our zoom conference, as part of our strategy, we also could discuss some patent applications we could try to use to tell our story and explain our concerns. in this context I would like to introduce this patent application. Maybe you want to read in advance. Cheers Christoph

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Update for NPOS call - Alliance building project
by ARCHE NOAH Katherine Dolan 30 Mar '21

30 Mar '21

Hi all, Ahead of our call tomorrow, we wanted to provide some feedback from our project, kindly supported by the Gen-ethische Stiftung, on alliance building. As part of our project, we are organising (together with Fulya - who will also join us for the call tomorrow) regional workshops to inform stakeholders - seed saving organisations and seed producers, farmer organisations, environmental NGOs, and campaigning organisations - about the issue of patents on seeds and the latest developments. The aim of the workshops was to motivate other national actors to get active on the issue and possibly to become NPOS members - recognising that we need support from more states to get change. We have now done workshops in two regions (Benelux and UK/IE). Two more regional workshops will follow before the summer, plus a workshop in Brussels for EU stakeholders in the autumn. For the remaining regional workshops, we have three options: Baltic, Spain/Portugal, South Eastern Europe. We'd welcome any views on which to prioritise in tomorrow's call. We also wanted to share some feedback from the workshops to date: There is a lot of interest in the topic and to become more informed. However, the feedback is that the issue - at least in the context of the current political / lobbying process - is very complicated, and as a result the threshold for getting involved feels too high. Those organisations that are politically active are also now focussed on the discussions on the new GMOS, and to a lesser extent on the upcoming reform of the seed marketing legislation. We are of the view that it makes sense to continue with the workshops this year, as raising awareness on the issue is itself a very positive outcome. We are also building contacts with organisations who could become potential active supporters of No Patents on Seeds in the future. However, it is no longer realistic to expect that organisations, simply on the basis of the workshop, will become active on the issue. If it really is our goal to get a new member or at least active organisations from other countries, we would need a different approach, including more intensive, ongoing cooperation (such as recently between No Patents on Seeds and WeMove) and the provision of targeted campaigning and advocacy materials. This is of course much more intensive, so could not realistically be done for more than 1-2 countries, which would still not give us the majority we need at the European level. But is something that might become more realistic in future years if there is a change in the strategy of NPOS, e.g. if we have broader, less technical goals. Look forward to seeing you all tomorrow! Best Katherine Katherine Dolan Leitung Politik / Head of Policy +43 (0)676 557 4408 ---------------------------------------------------------- ARCHE NOAH - GESELLSCHAFT FÜR DIE ERHALTUNG DER KULTURPFLANZENVIELFALT UND IHRE ENTWICKLUNG Obere Straße 40, 3553 Schiltern, Austria www.arche-noah.at PS: Das ARCHE NOAH Bildungsprogramm 2021 ist online: www.arche-noah.at/seminare PPS: Die Vielfalt braucht einen sicheren Platz - jetzt spenden<https://arche-noah.sicher-helfen.org/archenoah/gefrierkammer/?cf=www> [30 Jahre ARCHE NOAH_Jubiläum_Logo_SIGNATUR]

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!! Carlsberg proceedings
by Christoph Then 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

dear all, I just got aware the appeal on Carlsberg will be heard on 8 of June. It is just about one of the patents: EP2373154 it looks like the other one did not move ahead (EP2384110) Similar decision as in the case of melon is likely. The EPO follows lack of inventive step. Therefore, the patent might be revoked. I attach the preliminary findings. might be useful to mobilise for the Admin Council .. cheers Christoph

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proposal for public communication of the letter from the EPO
by Christoph Then 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

see first draft attached. if nobody objects, I also will share these lines (after some corrections etc) with the Umweltinstitut and WeMove, at early afternoon. thanks for your comments.

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! the answer from EPO Fwd: Your communication material handed over to the EPO on 22 March 2021
by Christoph Then 25 Mar '21

25 Mar '21

Dear all please see attached the outcome of the discussions at the Admin Council. it is a success that they had to consider the issue. I also got signals that more information about our report was shared. however, in terms of our goals, this is not a huge step forward. To me, it is evident that our current approach to fix the problems by small technical /legal steps is not moving ahead as needed. Despite our proposals seem open up an avenue to solve the problems without change of laws, political willingness to take next steps is not yet achieved. But it still might be achieved. for general strategy, we could decide to act less technical (less detailed), less on legal arguments - our arguments seem to be quite solid. Instead, we should consider how to involve broader public to larger extent (as we started with our petition). we could, for example, now again build on specific single applications and develop stories and mobilise public to prevent specific patents to be granted. More generally, to my opinion, the key target group of our communications might no longer be the decision making bodies (like patent experts) but (again) broader public. Anyway, I hope we can find a good way forward for the next months to prevent the EPO from sending us a similar letter at the end of 2021. I would like to share the letter with WeMove and Umweltinstitut. It looks like they want to send a signal to their supporters. Maybe we also can develop a few lines for public communication for our website, newsletter and social media. I try to draft something. Cheers Christoph -------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht -------- Betreff: Your communication material handed over to the EPO on 22 March 2021 Datum: Thu, 25 Mar 2021 07:30:08 +0000 Von: COUNCIL <council(a)epo.org> An: info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org <info(a)no-patents-on-seeds.org> Kopie (CC): COUNCIL <council(a)epo.org> Dear Mr Then, Please find hereby attached a letter for your attention, sent on behalf of the Chairman of the Administrative Council. Kind regards, Council Secretariat | Dir. 5.0.1 European Patent Office Bob-van-Benthem-Platz 1 | 80469 Munich | Germany Tel. +49 (0)89 2399 1101 Fax +49 (0)89 2399 2891 council(a)epo.org <mailto:council@epo.org> www.epo.org/about-us/epo/administrative-council.html <http://www.epo.org/about-us/epo/administrative-council.html> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Diese E-Mail ist einschließlich der gegebenenfalls mitgesandten Dateien vertraulich und nur für die Person oder Stelle bestimmt, an die sie gerichtet ist. Bitte benachrichtigen Sie den Absender, wenn Sie diese E-Mail irrtümlich erhalten haben. This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender. Le présent message électronique ainsi que tout fichier qui l'accompagne éventuellement sont confidentiels et doivent uniquement être utilisés par la personne ou l'entité à laquelle ils sont adressés. Si vous avez reçu ce message par erreur, nous vous prions de bien vouloir en avertir l'expéditeur.

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IMPORTANT Conference call 31 March 2021
by Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org 24 Mar '21

24 Mar '21

Dear all, our next conference call will be on 31 March 2021 from 9-10.30am CET. Please find the Zoom details below. Best, Johanna --- Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89804071594?pwd=VDQrWXVwTnRlTFJDQWxIQjZCMVFyZz09 Meeting ID: 898 0407 1594 Passcode: 894346 One tap mobile +4312535501,,89804071594#,,,,*894346# Austria +4312535502,,89804071594#,,,,*894346# Austria Dial by your location +43 12 535 501 Austria +32 2 585 5574 Belgium +45 32 72 80 10 Denmark +49 695 050 2596 Germany +31 20 794 0854 Netherlands +351 308 810 988 Portugal +41 31 528 09 88 Switzerland Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kbpl46eh7P 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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outcome of the meeting of the Admin Council?
by Christoph Then 24 Mar '21

24 Mar '21

Dear all I will try to ask the EPO spokesperson and some member of the Admin Council about any results. maybe you also want to try (especially in Austria) I guess we should wait till tomorrow, I guess it was a two days meeting. Cheers Christoph

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180.000 signatures, photos & media
by Johanna Eckhardt no-patents-seeds.org 23 Mar '21

23 Mar '21

Dear all, you can find the photos from yesterday on our homepage <https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/activities/180.000signatures> . Please let me know if you need further photos/other quality. As always I collect media coverage here: https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/de/hintergrund/medienberichte We have a radio and TV report of BR and an article in Süddeutsche Zeitung. Please let me know if you come across further media coverage. And Nina Hagen, famous German Punk singer, posted about our activity: https://www.facebook.com/NinaHagen :-) Plus, especially the posts on the melon patent worked quite well on Social media, f.e. ARCHE NOAH had over 200 likes: https://www.facebook.com/VereinArcheNoah 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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After the event at the EPO: strategical questions
by Christoph Then 23 Mar '21

23 Mar '21

Dear all yesterday we had a nice meeting with the highest spokesperson at the EPO (Luis Berenguer Giménez, Principal Director Communication) to hand over the signatures. Nice pictures on our website with the screaming veggies. we also had some media coverage: new agencies, online, prints, radio and I guess Bavarian TV. Thanks for Johanna to organize our outreach on media, social media and CSOs. Thank to all which participated (such as Ruth and Martha). With the 180.000 signatures we had some significant results from public mobilisation, with the report we had some backing of our arguments. very good for the moment! But were are we now in regard to our goals? we are better than expected in terms of public outreach and in making contacts with governments but we not as successful as we should be in terms of political success. Especially in Germany, we missed the chance to get the expected political decision making. We are now heading to a conference on 8 of July which is not likely to bring us forward. Worst case scenario (not unlikely): There will be be well orchestrated backfire from industry and patent lobby during the conference. They now know our arguments and will target them with their counter arguments (which we do not know so far, but I guess there will be several). The results from the conference will not be binding. At the end of the year, there will be another 'wait and see' decision making of the Admin Council. So for me, after our current activities, it is the same situation as before: What is the crucial element we now have to work on, to bring things forward? We have a lot of support, but how to turn it in the necessary decision making? Relevant questions are for example: what possibilities do we have, to move national governments, to cooperate which other allies, to bring up further news and arguments, to mobilize public? I guess this discussion should also take place in our next phone conference. Cheers Christoph

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