Activist group opposes lettuce patent

Activist group No Patents on Seeds has filed an opposition against a patent on lettuce, owned by Dutch food supplier  Rijk Zwaan Zaadteelt.

Announced yesterday, March 6, the activist group has opposed  EP 2,966,992 B1, a patent covering lettuce seeds, plants and the harvest of lettuces that grow in a hotter climate.

According to No Patents to Seeds, the trait is supposed to be helpful in adaption to ongoing climate change and the seeds are derived from conventional breedings without any involvement of genetic engineering.

“All the food products and harvested parts carry in their genome the mutation that when homozygously present leads to the seed having the capability to germinate at a high temperature in an unprimed state,” said claim 54 of the patent.

Christoph Then, coordinator for No Patents on Seeds, said that patents on seeds can endanger food security as they can block access to biological diversity that is required to develop new varieties.

He added: “These patents are prohibited in Europe for very good reasons. The EPO should no longer simply ignore these prohibitions.”

In June 2017, the EPO  amended its regulations to exclude from patentability plants and animals obtained by an essentially biological breeding process.

“Nevertheless, the EPO, whose income partly depends on patent fees, continues to circumvent these prohibitions. Therefore, No Patents on Seeds is calling for a public protest on March 27 in Munich to stop the legal chaos,” said the group.

In October last year. the EPO  revoked a Bayer-owned patent covering a type of broccoli that was adapted to make them easier to harvest. No Patents on Seeds said this ruling was the first time that the new rules have resulted in the revocation of a patent.

Did you enjoy reading this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox.