's letter of October 2007 GNIS deals with farm-saved seed and the law. The letter is interesting in that it clearly establishes what can be done or not. It omits a significant detail.
In the last table, it is stated that the farm-saved seed is prohibited for a patented variety (if one pays attention to detail, we understood that it refers to the law of the USA, Australia and Japan). Now this chart does not specify that a right to reproduce farm seed containing a patented event in French law French law (Article L. 613-5-1 Code property intellellectuelle) and the EU Directive 98/44 (Art. 11.1).
"
Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles L. 613-2-2 and L. 613-2-3, sale or other act of commercialization of plant breeding plant by the patentee or with his consent, to a farmer for farming purposes for it implies permission using the product of his harvest for propagation or multiplication by him on his own farm.
This leads to a paradoxical situation: a farmer can reproduce a patented seed with events, but not a seed French variety protected by plant breeders' rights. (Regarding the patent, the right to reproduce may be exercised only if the farmer meets the requirements of Regulation 2100/94).
French Patent law is somewhere now more favorable to farmers ...
NB: EU law provides an exemption for farmers and plant breeders' rights for patented items.
French law provides that only the plant variety right.
0 comments:
Post a Comment