Dear all
please see attached a patent just granted which is in line with the strategy exposed in our report. It somehow seems to be an answer to several questions we had. It raises new questions.
Its grant was published on 15 June, just the same day we had our workshop ..
The application for the this patent was filed after July 2017 (!!) . Indeed it provides a disclaimer (claim 3) which seems to exclude claims on the plants derived from crossing and selecting, if they inherit the described genes. So this case does not fully support my pessimistic view based on the Enza patents as granted in 2017 (see the annex 4, I sent on the weekend).
However, the disclaimer still allows to patent plants derived from random mutagenesis. At the same time, it includes the usage of the naturally occurring genes for screening and selection of the desired plants (Claim 1,2, 10, 11, 12).
To my understanding, usage of genes for screening is not included in the breeders exemption which allows the usage of varieties and plants, but not of specific genes. So these claims are likely to block the identification of (marker and functional) genes which would be needed to identify the genes in existing gene pool of maize.
I do not know if the publication of the grant of the patent on 15 of June (I guess it was planned to publish before the meeting of the Admin Council). Compared to the patents granted for ENZA in 2017 / 2018 (also granted under Rule 28(2) it is an improvement. However, it does not solve the problems. We now have the chance to explain it in our report - I am working on it.
talk to you this afternoon,
Christoph