Dear All
I am sitting in an UPOV-Seminar and just listened to a presentationhttps://www.upov.int/edocs/mdocs/upov/en/upov_sem_ge_23/upov_sem_ge_23_ppt_8.pdf by Bo Gertssonhttps://www.upov.int/edocs/mdocs/upov/en/upov_sem_ge_23/upov_sem_ge_23_bio_8.pdf - Group manager at the Plant breeding department in Lantmännen Lantbruk - probably one of the bigger breeding companies in Scandinavia. (the presentation is public and could be used)
He concludes: * The limited breeding exemption in the EU's unitary patent should be incorporated in the national legislation in all EU countries * Mutations created through random (contrary to targeted) mutagenesis should not be patentable * The concept of "essentially biological processes" is very important * Screening segregating offspring and developing markers is standard knowledge and should not be patentable * It is difficult for Small and Medium Enterprises to compete with Big Business when they have to navigate in a patent environment
Questioned about his position on random mutagenesis, he answered that it is most of all because the industry needs trust from the farmers and consumers - and that they are (rightly) very critical about power in agriculture ...
Best François