Comments on: Organic Vegetable Farmers – WARNING – you may be engaging in contract agreements with Monsanto

By: U.S. Finally Talking About Patent Reform | Seed Broadcast

U.S. Finally Talking About Patent Reform | Seed Broadcast — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 01:36:23 +0000

[...] we wrote about last week. But the use of these agreements, allegedly for products absent patents (see our blog post on Seminis Technology Agreements), demands the attention of the U.S. Department of Justice. This entry was posted in Agricultural [...]

By: Matthew Dillon

Matthew Dillon — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:04:35 +0000

Micah – posting this, but I’m not sure what you mean by your comment “Karl is correct above in his characterization of utility patents.” Yes, I know you only have one commercial offering of biotech vegetables – squash – but Monsanto-Seminis has many patents in vegetable crops, both biotech and non-biotech. The issue isn’t if they are commercialized, as even if they are not commercialized the patent ties up the genetics and prevents innovation from other researchers.

That all aside, it’s great to know this is being examined. We look forward to hearing what the results of the review of the label. Is there a timeline for this?

By: Mica Veihman

Mica Veihman — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:39:26 +0000

Since you posted this entry, we have gone back to review the label you show above and have talked to our manufacturing plant. This is a standard label that has not been changed since Monsanto acquired Seminis in 2005. So nothing has changed with Monsanto's involvement.

However, because they have been standard, we have not reviewed them recently. We are now talking with our regulatory, manufacturing and legal personnel to determine the reason and intent for the "notice to purchaser." I will follow up with you once we have more information.

Karl is correct above in his characterization of utility patents. We currently only have one biotech offering in vegetables - a virus-resistant squash on the market since the mid-90s (again, prior to the Monsanto acquisition) in which the utility patent would apply.

Purchasing a biotech seed requires more than a "notice to purchaser" label on the packet or bag. When a farmer buys biotech seed, they sign a separate Monsanto Technology Stewardship Agreement (MTSA). The agreement outlines insect-resistant management guidelines for refuge planting and includes a provision that farmers only plant the seed for one season (do not save seed).

Along with the MTSA, we send a yearly Technology Use Guide that explains these provisions and also gives best management practice advice by crop. Here is a link to that guide: http://www.monsanto.com/monsanto/ag_products/pdf/stewardship/technology_use_guide.pdf

Mica Veihman
Monsanto Company

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:02:31 +0000

The problem is that through these rapacious tactics, Monsanto is severly limiting the diversity of the world's seed stock. This is extremely dangerous, not to mention, greedy.

What if a company comes along and tweaks a molecule of oxygen in the air we breath and then patents air? Far fetched maybe (or not), but the issue is that both air and food (which comes from seeds) are necessary components to life on this planet. The less resilience there is, the greater the chance for catastrophe.

Nature cannot be improved on. We are learning that the hard way.

By: Matthew Dillon

Matthew Dillon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:00:22 +0000

Breeders can still receive royalty for their breeding work with PVP system. I’m not saying a plant breeder or a seed company should work for free, only that Congress created a model for breeders royalties that was working. The only thing patents are working to do is create monopolies. For more on the difference between the two:

http://www.extension.org/article/18449

By: Matthew Dillon

Matthew Dillon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:55:24 +0000

The patents on the varieties I have seen this language on from Seminis so far are likely these:

Tomato leaf curl in tomatoes: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7615689.PN.&OS=PN/7615689&RS=PN/7615689

Tissue culture in inbred parent lines for peppers:http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0255011.html

By: Matthew Dillon

Matthew Dillon — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 07:53:06 +0000

KARL -- You are incorrect in your belief that patents are only on biotech traits.
In ex parte Hibbard the PTO expanded patents to any part of the plant - leaves, tissue, seed, etc. As well as to a plants ability to resist disease or other genotypic expressions.

For more on IP: http://www.extension.org/article/18449
The patents on these varieties are likely these:

CMS in cukes: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=15&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=Cucumber&s2=Seminis&OS=Cucumber+AND+Seminis&RS=Cucumber+AND+Seminis

Tomato leaf curl in tomatoes: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=7615689.PN.&OS=PN/7615689&RS=PN/7615689

Tissue culture in inbred parent lines for peppers: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2009/0255011.html

--
Matthew Dillon

By: Allison Zito

Allison Zito — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:24:12 +0000

I would like to organize a “Day Without Groceries” to protest the fact that we do not even have a right to know if our food is GMO, Irradiated, Hormone or Antibiotic Fed. This standard is practice in the USA and it makes everyone of us an unwitting Guinea Pig!

By: Karl Haro von Mogel

Karl Haro von Mogel — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:17:16 +0000

I’m afraid I do not understand one aspect of this article. Utility patents, as I understand them, apply to GE crops, and not non-GE crops. You can also patent a molecular marker for detecting the presence of a naturally-occurring gene but not the gene itself. To to talk about utility patents in the context of non-GE tomatoes seems to be misleading. At first glance, this ‘agreements’ on the back of bags looks like a way to limit the use of the genetics they developed in breeding WITHOUT using patents. It doesn’t sound like a strong legal means, and I’m not sure it would hold up in court either – because plant variety protections have exemptions that this ‘agreement’ is trying to prevent. I would certainly like to know more about it, but I think it needs to be put in its proper context.

By: uberVU - social comments

uberVU - social comments — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:24:26 +0000

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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Seed_Alliance: Organic Farmers using Monsanto-Seminis veg varieties, be aware of tech license agreement on packet. No Seed Saving – http://bit.ly/seminisTA