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 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
76 SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2015 FOR THE PAST year and half James Weatherly a patent attorney in Denver Colo. has been working to give legs to the seed industrys new education and outreach arm the Seed Innovation and Protection Alliance SIPA. The group formally got its start in July 2014 with the first board meeting representing 11 founding members. Weatherly now SIPAs executive direc- tor explains that the first several months really laid the ground work for the alliance as he worked with the board to develop the membership structure code of con- duct mission statement and website. With such a diverse membership we wanted to make sure everyones views were incorporated into the mission state- ment Weatherly says. The mission of SIPA is to promote the understanding and value of seed innova- tion as well as facilitate and promote the respect of intellectual property rights for the benefit of members growers industry associates consumers and the agricultural community. All that legwork is starting to pay off. The alliance now has 33 members repre- senting all facets of the seed industry and is preparing to host its second educa- tion unit with five more planned for 2016. Members include seed companies service providers dealers and brokers seed associations and educational institutions. The first workshop was held in Tampa Fla. in conjunction with the American Seed Trade Associations annual vegetable and flower seed conference. Participants learned about economic espionage the intellectual property IP environment in Mexico and IP as it relates to seed. The workshops are not just for plant breeders. They are for company leaders Members of the seed industry unite to educate develop best management practices and help increase awareness about the importance of intellectual property. Julie Deering INNOVATE and PROTECT and those in sales and marketing as well as research and development. As we look to increase awareness and educate growers its important that we are internally aligned as everyone has a different way of managing their innova- tion pipeline says Eloy Corona a founding SIPA board member representing Bayer CropScience. We want to make sure members are educated about the various forms of IP and able to articulate that to farmers in a consistent manner. A Better Understanding While many are most familiar with farmer saved seed investigations IP violations can occur within seed companies aca- demic research institutions and others. Having worked with agricultural compa- nies for more than nine years Weatherly says hes noticed a distinct difference in the understanding of IP among them. Some are well-versed experts while others have a very basic knowledge he says. Weatherly explains its important to Its important that we are internally aligned as everyone has a different way of managing their innovation pipeline. Eloy Corona