*[Enwl-eng] Bayer-Monsanto at it again

[ENWL]

Hi,

I want to make sure you didn’t miss this. This Monday our partners will 
dress up as screaming vegetables in Munich to protest outside of the 
European Patent Office, right before their official meeting.

They will be delivering our demand to stop companies from undoing our win. 
Companies like Bayer-Monsanto and Carlsberg are currently using legal 
loopholes in patent law to register new patents on our fruits, vegetables, 
and seeds (like barley or melons).

144,491 have already signed from the WeMove Europe community and others like 
ours. [1] But we want to get to 200,000 for the protest on Monday.

Will you add your name? We’ll update ASAP you on our protest!

            Sign now!


Free the seeds! Save the future of our food.


Our partners "No Patents on Seeds" recently protested in front of the German 
Ministry of Justice
and will soon bring their screaming vegetables in protest in front of the 
EPO’s office in Munich right before their important meeting.

[1] Partners include No Patents on Seeds and Umweltinstitut Munchen e.V.



In case you missed it, the original email is below the divider:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



      Together we got the European Patent Office (EPO) to stop patents on 
all plant seeds so that they belong to all of us and cannot be owned for 
profit. But corporations found a loophole that would cancel our win. The EPO 
meets next week, act now to ask them to scrap this loophole.

      SIGN NOW
Hi,

No one should be able to own the exclusive right to grow and sell fruits and 
vegetables. It sounds obvious but this is what we fought to prevent for over 
four years. And we won. Last year, the European Patent Office (EPO) 
officially accepted that conventionally bred plants are not patentable. [1]

But companies like Bayer-Monsanto, DowDupont, Heineken and Carlsberg have 
found ways to undo that win by finding legal loopholes to register new 
patents on melons or barley. [2]

What they are doing is pretty sneaky: it’s called ‘technical topping’ and it’s 
a way to exploit the loopholes introduced by the EPO. [3] While patents on 
conventionally bred plants are prohibited, patents on breeding by means of 
genetic engineering, including new methods such as genome editing can be 
patented. [4]

Now companies can try to blur the distinction between conventional breeding 
and genetic engineering. In practice, this means that seeds to make beer or 
melons can still be claimed as an invention.

We already got the EPO to listen to us through a huge petition, filing 
thousands of complaints against a patent on tomatoes, and a protest in 
Munich at the Oktoberfest beer festival. [5]

As the EPO meets next week, it’s time to remind them that we’re still here 
and we won’t allow them to cancel our win. Right before they meet, our 
partners will dress up as screaming vegetables (see photo below) in front of 
EPO’s office in Munich and hand over our signatures.

            Free the seeds! Save the future of our food


Patents create monopolies: fruits, vegetables and seeds claimed in patents 
cannot be used by other farmers for further breeding without the permission 
of the patent holder. This means that a handful of large corporations get 
far-reaching control over our daily food production - they can decide what 
we eat, what farmers produce, what retailers sell and how much we all have 
to pay for it.


Our partners "No Patents on Seeds" recently protested in front of the German 
Ministry of Justice
and will soon bring their screaming vegetables in protest in front of the 
EPO’s office in Munich.

If these patents are not stopped, small farmers will become more and more 
dependent on big companies that can control access to seeds for further 
breeding. The EPO needs to take action as soon as possible, before the likes 
of Bayer-Monsanto and DowDupont own the exclusive rights to fruits, 
vegetables and seeds. Let’s make sure the EPO stands strong, and does not 
allow any more patents on seeds until they close these loopholes.

            No more patents on seeds!


After more than four years of campaigning to stop patents on seeds, our 
efforts put an end to years of complete legal absurdity and chaotic 
decision-making at the EPO. Corporations fought tooth and nail, lobbying, 
spending a lot of money to beat us, but our people power prevailed. As 
corporations try to find loopholes, let’s make sure our voice stays strong, 
again. Save the future of food, sign now!

With hope,
David (London), Giulio (Rome), and the entire WeMove Europe team



References
[1] 
https://www.epo.org/law-practice/case-law-appeals/communications/2020/20200514.html
https://www.sdhsprogram.org/european-patent-office-plants-animals-obtained-classical-breeding-not-patentable/
[2] 
https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/sites/default/files/news/No%20patents%20on%20seeds%20-%20Overview%202018-2019_1.pdf
https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/publications/report2021
[3] https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/news/G3-19
[4] https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/news/report2020
[5] https://www.wemove.eu/big-win-patents



WeMove Europe is an independent and values-based organisation that seeks to 
build people power to transform Europe in the name of our community, future 
generations and the planet.

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From: David - WeMove Europe
Sent: Sunday, March 21, 2021 10:21 PM
Subject: Fwd: Bayer-Monsanto at it again

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