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European Patent Office gives green light to prohibit patents on plants and animals
Enlarged Board of Appeal agrees with restrictive interpretation of patent law

14 May 2020 / Patents on plants and animals derived from conventional breeding can be fully prohibited in Europe. This is the result of a verdict published today by the Enlarged Board of Appeal, the highest legal body of the European Patent Office (EPO). The Board concluded that plants and animals obtained by ‘essentially biological processes’ are not patentable, with the exception of patent applications filed before July 2017. This verdict is in line with the interpretation of European patent law as decided by the 38 member states of the EPO in 2017. No Patents on Seeds! welcomes the verdict but is also demanding further political decisions to close still existing loopholes. Access to biological diversity needed for further breeding must not be controlled, hampered or blocked by any patents.
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Archive

2020-04-23: Eleven reasons why Europe needs to ban patents on food plants and farm animals
2020-04-10: Carlsberg again files patent applications on barley and beer
2019-10-01: EU Parliament, national governments and civil society organizations against patents on plants and animals
2019-06-25: Opposition against patent on salmon and trout
2019-06-11: Patent applications covering ‘seeds to meat’and from ‘maize to milk’
2019-05-02: No patent on fish, chickens, pigs and cows!
2019-03-26: "European Patent Office: Hands off our food plants!"
2019-03-24: End the legal chaos at the European Patent Office!
2019-03-06: United call for action - protest at the European Patent Office
2019-03-05: Opposition against patent on lettuce
2019-01-31: After mass opposition: Syngenta patent on tomatoes revoked
2019-01-23: International appeal to the President of the European Patent Office, António Campinos
2018-12-05: European Patent Office calls the prohibition on the patenting of plants and animals from conventional breeding into question
2018-11-07: Baysanto “patent on severed broccoli” revoked
2018-10-08: Who invented beer and barley?
2018-10-03: Scope of patent on beer reduced after opposition
2018-06-14: Stop 'Baysanto' from monopolising seeds!
2018-03-26: “One single mutation is sufficient to patent a whole vegetable garden”
2018-02-20: Syngenta fails at the European Patent Office
2018-01-16: Growing opposition to patents on seeds
2017-10-11: Opposition to Monsanto bio-piracy patent on soybeans rejected
2017-10-10: Hearing on Monsanto soybean bio-piracy
2017-06-29: Still no solution regarding patents on plants and animals
2017-06-26: Through the back door: European Patent Office wants to expand patenting of plants and animals
2017-05-29: European Patent Office to strengthen prohibitions against patents on plants and animals
2017-04-26: European Patent Office and industry meeting on patents on seeds – public excluded
2017-04-10: Stop patents on bread and beer now!
2017-04-06: European Patent Office continues to grant patents on plants
2017-03-15: Call to stop patents on beer
2017-02-21: EU unites against patents on plants and animals
2017-01-20: Opposition against patents on beer!
2016-11-25: EU Council to discuss patents on plants and animals
2016-11-17: No Patents on Beer!
2016-11-03: EU Commission says plants and animals derived from conventional breeding should be regarded as non-patentable
2016-08-03: No intention of granting a patent on salmon ...
2016-07-20: Animals are not an invention of the feed industry!
2016-06-30: More than 800.000 signatures against patents on plants and animals
2016-06-21: Stop patents on plants and animals!
2016-05-13: 65.000 x opposition against Syngenta patent on tomatoes
2016-01-20: European Patent Office revokes Monsanto patent on melons
2016-01-20: Hearing on the opposition against Monsanto Patent on Indian Melon
2015-12-17: European Parliament calling for patents on plants derived from conventional breeding to be stopped
2015-12-07: Patent on tomatoes with reduced water content about to be granted
2015-10-27: Syngenta granted patent on pepper for use as food
2015-08-25: European Patent Office boosts its business with Patents on Life
2015-05-21: Monsanto soon to receive 30 European patents on food plants
2015-03-27: European Patent Office upholds patents on broccoli and tomato
2014-12-22: After opposition: Monsanto patent on tomatoes revoked
2014-12-01: Opposition to stop Monsanto soybean patent biopiracy
2014-10-23: “Patent industry selling out future of our food”
2014-10-16: No Patents on seeds ! Stop the Monsantos !
2014-05-30: Opposition against European Patent on tomatoes
2014-03-12: Opposition: Stop Monsanto “patent on severed broccoli”
2014-03-10: Opposition to Patent EP 1 597 965
2014-02-27: Monsanto bio-piracy supported by European Patent Office
2014-02-20: European Patent Office blunder leads to grant of a new patent on conventional breeding
2014-02-03: Free Pepper!
2013-10-16: European Patent Office a “democracy-free zone”
2013-06-26: German Parliament prohibits patents on plants and animals from conventional breeding
2013-06-12: Monsanto granted “patent on severed broccoli”
2013-05-09: European Patent on 'red hot chili peppers'
2013-03-13: A new wave of patents on plants
2012-12-10: The EU Unitary Patent: A 'One Stop Shop' for Monsanto & Co
2012-12-03: No genetically engineered plants in the fields or on our plates
2012-11-26: Stop the EU Unitary Patent!
2012-10-24: Demonstration on 30 November in Munich
2012-09-11: European patent law at crossroads
2012-06-28: Unitary Patent taken to next level
2012-05-10: European Parliament votes against patents on plants and animals
2012-05-03: Patent on animal breeding revoked
2012-04-02: Put emergency brakes on European Patent Office now!
2012-02-13: German Parliament adops resolution against patents on conventional breeding
2012-02-09: Public discussion at European Parliament
2012-02-03: Opposition to Monsanto´s Patent on Indian Melon
2011-11-23: No patents on breeding of animals!
2011-11-04: Patent on tomato becomes a landmark decision
2011-10-26: Protest against patent on broccoli at the European Patent Office
2011-10-20: Patent on Broccoli will not be revoked
2011-08-18: New patent granted to Bayer breaks the law
2011-07-27: Syngenta Patents Melons with a Pleasant Taste. Consumers Reject Patents on Foodstuffs
2011-05-16: Melons now a Monsanto “invention”
2011-03-07: European Patent Office to grant Monsanto company patent on tomatoes
2010-12-10: European Patent Office issues broccoli decision
2010-11-03: Conference Report
2010-07-21: Who owns broccoli and tomatoes?

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Stop Patents on Plants and Animals!

The member organisations of NO PATENTS ON SEEDS! are concerned about the increasing number of patents on plants, seeds and farm animals and their impact on farmers, breeders, innovation and biodiversity.
These patents are an abuse of patent law and put in danger the access to basic resources in agriculture and food production.

Therefore, we call for an urgent re-think of European patent law in biotechnology and plant breeding and for clear regulations that exclude conventional breeding, genetic material, animals, plants and food derived thereof from patentability!