Patents

On 15 October 2024, the European Patent Office (EPO) upheld KWS’s patent for cold-resistant maize. This decision is likely to raise serious concerns among European seed breeders, who may now feel threatened in their breeding work. The patent covers maize plants containing a naturally occurring genetic sequence, which restricts the freedom of breeders to develop new varieties. The “oral proceedings”, which took place before the EPO Opposition Division and which Inf’OGM attended by video-conference, gave rise to some unusual and revealing exchanges. This case shows once again that patents can indeed be tools for appropriating seeds developed by farmers and/or breeders.

In less than a year and a half, from May 3, 2022 to October 12, 2023, the previous European Commission has launched a number of legislative initiatives concerning the Living. The deregulation of GMOs, the digitization of living organisms and even patents are just some of the issues on the table of member states and the European Parliament. If adopted, these projects will make it easier for companies with substantial financial, human and technical resources to take ownership of the Living. These initiatives do echo current international negotiations.

After genetic sequences and DNA, here comes RNA, the new flagship molecule in biotechnology that is supposed to solve agricultural and health problems. Companies in this field are flourishing. Among them is GreenLight Biosciences, a company that was on the verge of bankruptcy when it was bought by the investment fund Fall Line Capital.

What are the links between new techniques of genetic modification, digitization of genetic sequences information and patents? Inf’OGM publishes here an analysis presented in June 2024 at a regional workshop organized by the African Center for Biodiversity, in Durban (South Africa). It was written by Guy Kastler, representative of the international farmers’ organization La Via Campesina at various ITPGRFA and CBD meetings. 

In April 2024, Inf’OGM reported on its interview with a Dutch seed company feeling threatened by KWS patents. This is not an isolated case since De Bolster, another Dutch seed company, has had to apply constant legal vigilance for several years to prevent its varietal varieties from being covered by an ever-increasing number of patent rights, otherwise its survival would be jeopardized. Frans Carree, Director of De Bolster’s Variety Development Department, answered our questions.

During the parliamentary work on the proposal for a European regulation on plant reproductive material, known as the “seeds regulation”, a question arose: should so-called “non-targeted mutagenesis” be considered as an “essentially biological process”? As these processes are excluded from patentability, the question may seem important. But such a decision would not be without consequences for the regulation of GMOs.

Inf’OGM interviewed a Dutch seed company that has developed a cold-resistant “organic” maize and that feels threatened by KWS patents. She tells us the story of her company Nordic Maize breeding, of her certified organic maize, of its likely future contamination by GMOs/NGTs…

Since autumn 2023, the issue of patents has come to the fore in the debates surrounding the deregulation of GMOs. Some Member States and MEPs are concerned about the impact of agro-industry patents on the rest of the agricultural sector. History shows that the threats they represent are very real indeed. Here are two examples of seed companies whose products are targeted by such threats.