Patent on Severed Broccoli

Broccoli

In June 2013, Seminis, a company owned by Bayer/Monsanto, was granted patent EP1597965 on broccoli that was (conventionally) bred to have a certain shape to make mechanical harvesting easier. The patent covers the plants, the seeds and the “severed broccoli head” which is used for food. It additionally covers a “plurality of broccoli plants (…) grown in a field of broccoli”. The method used to produce these plants was purely crossing and selection.

In May 2014, an opposition was filed with support of NO PATENTS ON SEEDS!. The patent was revoked in September 2018. But Bayer/Monsanto appealed this decision. In February 2021, this appeal has been approved by the EPO (T2840/18). But in 2022, Bayer/Monsanto decided to abandon the patent. It has been revoked on 24 October 2022.

Photos of handing over the opposition (March 2014) 

The patent file EP1597965

All documents of the patent on EPO website

Media coverage:

7/11/2018, Ingenioren (DK), Patentkontor ophæver Monsanto-patent: Jeres broccoli er ikke GMO

Reports in German can be found on the German version of this site.