Many thanks Christoph!
Here a brief update from our side: After advice received from Oxfam US, we have decided to provide the opportunity to comment (OTC) to all companies that are discussed in the report's case studies. They will all receive an email (along the example below) before the end of this week, giving them 5 working days to respond, so we will have the comments - if any, by Friday April 10 at the latest. I suppose this timeline will still allow us to incorporate any factual errors - if identified, in the final report. The two Dutch companies Keygene and Rijk Zwaan have already indicated that they want to come with a more elaborate response and we have indicated that is OK but that we do not see that as part of the OTC, which is mainly to check factual correctness of the information described in the report. This discussion will likely take place after the set deadline and become part of our future advocacy with these companies. Please do not hesitate to contact me in case you have any further questions. In addition, Maarten de Vuyst, private sector lead at Oxfam Novib, has offered to share his experiences with providing companies the Opportunity to Comment in case you would be interested.
Kind regards, Bram
Email example:
Dear Madam, Sir,
In the next few weeks, one of the organizations (i.e. No Patents on Seeds!, https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/) that Oxfam is supporting will be publishing a report analyzing patent applications on plants in Europe during the last 2 years. The report primarily targets the current legal situation at EPO but includes several examples of patent applications made by companies. Your company features in this report and we would appreciate your feedback on the final draft so as to take into account any factual mistakes you may identify or any new or additional information you may wish to share with us prior to publication. Attached you will find the relevant excerpts from the draft report. Please note this document is not public and does not yet represent Oxfam’s views. It is a draft for your internal use only. We kindly request that you get back to us by Wednesday 8 April at the latest. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to get back to me.
Yours sincerely, Bram de Jonge
Attachment: excerpts from paper
-----Original Message----- From: Npos_2018 npos_2018-bounces@testbiotech.de On Behalf Of Christoph Then Sent: Thursday, 2 April 2020 11:09 To: npos_2018@testbiotech.de Subject: [Npos_2018] final edited english version
Dear all,
please see attached (nearly) final English version, mostly already edited. only passages in yellow (last additions / comments) have to undergo further editing.
Summary still missing (I guess I will provide a draft early next week together with draft PR which might be similar).
This version now ill be sent for layout (together with new visuals).
on the glossar (thanks to Johanna!) we will add some further footnotes to further informations. The idea is to have the full information also in the print out versions. But we may try to link from the text (red letters) to the glossary.
German version still at work.
thanks for the good comments and the smooth process!
cheers
Christoph