Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 6814 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM n March of 2015, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office (EPO) made its decision — sparked by two high-profile cases involving tomato and broccoli — that the patenting of products of essentially biological processes is allowed. The decisions were met with both support and criticism. In the Netherlands especially, there were concerns over these decisions, and so during the Dutch presidency of the European Union between January and June 2016, a symposium was organized. Called “Finding the balance — Exploring solutions in the debate surrounding patents and plant breeders’ rights”, it took place in Brussels, Belgium, on May 18. To learn more about this controversial topic, European Seed visited the Symposium and spoke with representatives of several European organizations who all have a high stake in this discussion. Judith de Roos of the Dutch Seed Association Plantum states that the Symposium was an event organized by the EU Commission, partly co-organized by the Dutch government, but mainly for the practical part. “The topic had already been flagged in the Council during the Luxemburg presidency, just before the Dutch presidency. The topic was first discussed in the Agriculture Council secondly in the Competitiveness Council, and since the topic is well understood in agricultural circles but less in those of the Ministers of Economics, the need was felt to bring all parties together to exchange information. As this subject was one of the priority topics for the Netherlands during the Dutch presidency, the Commission agreed to organize such a symposium, not in the least because the European Parliament called upon the European Commission in their December 2015 resolution to take actions,” she adds. The May 18 symposium was well attended with over 200 participants showing up, a majority of them from the European Commission (mostly from the patent, competitiveness and agriculture sectors) and representatives from Member States, competent authorities and patent offices. As far as interest groups go, four groups had received 10 invitations each: ESA, IP Symposium Explores Patents and PBR Two vegetables have sparked conversation about one of the most controversial topics in the seed sector. By: Marcel Bruins EuropaBio, No Patents on Seeds and COPA- COGECA. Unfortunately, the symposium was organized during the ISF World Seed Congress in Uruguay, which prevented several high-level seed representatives from attending. Breeder Concerns In the recent past, the Dutch government has been quite active in the field of IP for plant innovations, with discussions in Parliament and a report, which lead to a recommendation to the Dutch Parliament indicating a need for a comprehensive (or full) breeder’s exemption in patent law, notes Szonja Csörgo, director of intellectual property and legal affairs of the European Seed Association (ESA). “In the course of the past few years, the Dutch government has actively discussed the impact of patenting plant traits, with the concern that multinationals would decide what the variety assortment would look like,” says Chris van Winden of the International Licensing Platform Vegetable (ILP). One of the interim results of these discussions was the introduction of a limited breeder’s exemption into Dutch patent law. This process was driven