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Jack21222
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This was my post from another thread on the safety of GM (genetically modified) food. To me, patent laws are much more dangerous to our food supply than the food itself.
If I buy a genetically modified plant, the company who sold it to me retains patent rights over the plant, including the seeds. So, I'd be infringing on the patent to take the seeds from the previous year's crop to start a new crop.
It gets even more confusing when the genetically modified gene becomes so prevalent that the vast majority of anyone crop has this genetic modification. Then, the patent company could theoretically go after any farmer it wanted.
This is not a hypothetical situation, by the way. Such a case is making its way through the legal system right now. Here is a Wired article about the case:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/arstechnica-agriculture-patents/
To summarize, a farmer just bought random commodity soybeans from the market and planted them, and he was sued. The farmer lost his case in district court, and the Supreme Court agreed last month to hear it:
http://m.npr.org/news/Technology/162949288
I hope the Supreme Court realizes that a company cannot claim a patent on ALL the generic soybeans in the state. This is a frightening prospect.
If I buy a genetically modified plant, the company who sold it to me retains patent rights over the plant, including the seeds. So, I'd be infringing on the patent to take the seeds from the previous year's crop to start a new crop.
It gets even more confusing when the genetically modified gene becomes so prevalent that the vast majority of anyone crop has this genetic modification. Then, the patent company could theoretically go after any farmer it wanted.
This is not a hypothetical situation, by the way. Such a case is making its way through the legal system right now. Here is a Wired article about the case:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/arstechnica-agriculture-patents/
The company didn’t want to be in the business of making a one-time sale, so when Monsanto sold “Roundup Ready” soybeans to farmers, it required them to sign a licensing agreement promising not to re-plant future generations of seeds.
However, farmers remain free to sell the soybeans they grow in the commodity market, where most are used to feed people or livestock. Roundup Ready soybeans have become extremely popular; they now account for 94 percent of all acres planted in Indiana, for instance. Vernon Bowman, an Indiana farmer, was a customer of Monsanto who realized that Roundup Ready soybeans had become so common in his area that if he simply purchased commodity soybeans from a local grain elevator, the overwhelming majority of those soybeans would be Roundup Ready. Commodity soybeans are significantly cheaper than Monsanto’s soybeans, and they came without the contractual restriction on re-planting.
So Bowman planted (and re-planted) commodity soybeans instead of using Monsanto’s seeds. When Monsanto discovered what Bowman was doing, it sued him for patent infringement.
To summarize, a farmer just bought random commodity soybeans from the market and planted them, and he was sued. The farmer lost his case in district court, and the Supreme Court agreed last month to hear it:
http://m.npr.org/news/Technology/162949288
I hope the Supreme Court realizes that a company cannot claim a patent on ALL the generic soybeans in the state. This is a frightening prospect.