Please write to EPO
After sucess at European Parliament: help us to force the Patent Office to comply
Dear Supporter of the Campaign “No Patents on Seeds”
A little while ago you signed an open letter on our website [link], asking the European Parliament and the EU Commission for a change in European patent law to prohibit patents on plants and animals and conventional breeding methods.
More than 70.000 people signed this open letter, as well as some 300 organisations from all over Europe.
We are extremely pleased to tell you that with your support we have had a first success. On 10 May 2012, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the patenting of essential biological processes in which it states very clearly that the EPO is to stop granting patents on conventional breeding processes, products thereof and breeding material. This resolution is a great success for our efforts. (for more information see our website here.) The national parliaments in Germany and The Netherlands have passed similar resolutions.
We sincerely thank you for your help in achieving this important step towards a patent law that does not allow patents on plants and animals.
We now need to ensure the European Patent Office actually implements what the European Parliament has stated in its very clear resolution.
Unfortunately, the resolution is not legally binding for the EPO, therefore we need your help once again to create enough pressure.
Please send the attached letter (or a more personalised version of it) to the EPO in Munich, either by fax or by post (e-mails are not possible to the EPO).
No Patents on Seeds will continue work on all political and legal levels to obtain the necessary changes in patent law. We will happily keep you informed on developments through our irregular newsletters.
We remain with kind regards
No Patents on Seeds
This email is sent from:
München, 80807
Germany
Name, surname ……………………………………………………..
Street, streetnumber ……………………………………………….
Postcode, city ………………………………………………. ………
Country …………………………………………………………………
Date: …………………………………., 2012
FAX: (++49) (0) 89 – 2399 – 4560
To the
President of the European Patent Office
Mr. Benoît Battistelli
EPO
80298 Munich, Germany
copy to the members of the Boards of Appeal
“Amicus curiae letter in the case T1242/06-3304, EP 1211926”
Dear President,
Dear Members of the Boards of Appeal
I have long been concerned about the European Patent Office (EPO) granting an increasing number of patents on conventional plants and animals.
It is therefore with satisfaction that I have noted the European Parliament resolution of 10 May 2012 on the patenting of essential biological processes.
In it the Parliament “calls on the EPO also to exclude from patenting products derived from conventional breeding and all conventional breeding methods, including SMART breeding (precision breeding) and breeding material used for conventional breeding” (point 4)
Furthermore the resolution calls on the EPO not only take into consideration the mere wording of the claims of a patent application, but to also take into account the content of the patent, the purpose of the invention and all connected applications (the so-called “whole content approach”).
I expect that the EPO will take this clear statement into consideration and call on you to
1. immediately stop granting patents on conventional breeding methods, products thereof and
breeding material.
2. stop granting patents on animals and plants, and
3. to revoke the patents on the tomato and broccoli once and for all.
Kind regards
……………………………………………..….
(Signature)