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27 November 2014EuropeFranz-Josef Zimmer and Markus Grammel

Tomato and Broccoli: patenting plant products

On October 27, 2014, the European Patent Office’s (EPO) Enlarged Board of Appeal held oral proceedings in the consolidated cases of Tomato II and Broccoli II (G2/12 and G2/13). The board considered questions of law, referred by the same technical board of appeal in both cases, in what may well be the two longest appeals in the EPO’s history, pending since the mid 2000s.

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