Dear all,
please see the first draft for our opposition against the KWS maize patent.
The opposition is backed by additional documents (in English) which explain the history and impact of EU Directive 98/44 (attached, I guess I will work on them again, maybe fuse them to one document).
In short the opposition says: all the exemptions from the prohibitions under Art. 53 b are only relevant for genetically engineered plants. For other plants, the prohibitions of Art 53 (b) fully apply.
This is a new legal approach for Art 53 (b) we developed for the Carlsberg appeal (which was also checked by patent lawyer).
In preparing the opposition, my impression is that Claim 10 and 11 also comprise the plants as selected in claim 1 and 2. This would mean, this claim covers plants that were detected in nature. Therefore, I added Art 52 (EPC).
happy to get your comments. we have to file mid of March
Christoph
PS I had some short exchange with KWS about further talks. My impression is that the company is not interested. We may consider a public activity to hand over our opposition in Einbeck. what do you think?