Hi all,

Here is an interesting extract from the report on how patent holders in the US use their seed patents to increase their power over smaller companies:

“For example, the Independent Professional Seed Association (IPSA) commented that in order to license patented traits and varieties, “companies like ours must provide a multinational corporation with a list of all our customers, (complete with addresses), the amount of seed purchased by product for each customer, as well as our complete company financials. After giving them all our company information, we need to try to compete against their company and owned brands.”119 This creates a situation in which the licensor knows the licensee’s costs and profit margins, as well as complete information on their market and customers. In another example, IPSA also notes that independent seed dealers must accept licensing contracts from a dominant firm before being told the royalty amounts they will pay, a transaction that sometimes happens entirely over the phone.120 They may not find out these amounts until they have already started seed production for the following season with licensed material and cannot change their course of action.121  Some commenters raised the concern that dominant market players can exercise power over independent retailers by threatening to deny them a license should the retailer behave in a manner contrary to the interests of the licensor, such as by trying to combine traits from one firm with germplasm from another or selling generic chemical inputs with seeds that incorporate patented traits.

…

According to several interviewees, a company’s primary motivation to pursue patents may not primarily be to protect the company investment in particular genetics or traits, but rather to build up an IP portfolio whose size and scope in and of itself is attractive to investors or useful for cross-licensing.”

Best,

Katherine

Von: Npos_2018 <npos_2018-bounces@testbiotech.de> Im Auftrag von Christoph Then
Gesendet: Freitag, 10. März 2023 10:25
An: npos_2018@testbiotech.de
Betreff: [Npos_2018] Fwd: USDA Seed Report

seems to be relevant

-------- Weitergeleitete Nachricht --------

Betreff:	USDA Seed Report
Datum:	Fri, 10 Mar 2023 10:07:26 +0100
Von:	E.Gelinsky <eva.gelinsky@ig-saatgut.de>
An:	katherine.dolan@arche-noah.at <katherine.dolan@arche-noah.at>, Johanna Eckhardt - No patents on seeds <johanna.eckhardt@no-patents-on-seeds.org>, Christoph Then <info@no-patents-on-seeds.org>, 'Brigitte Reisenberger' <brigitte.reisenberger@global2000.at>, STRUTZMANN Iris <iris.strutzmann@akwien.at>

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/SeedsReport.pdf

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