This article is republished with permission from IP Watch
By William New
Revised EPO Patent For Conventional Broccoli Has Public Interest Ramifications
To patent or not to patent, the great broccoli question
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A patent for a conventionally bred form of the common household vegetable broccoli appears to be on its way to acceptance by the European Patent Office following a change to the patent by the company filing it, according to sources. The decision not to revoke the patent, which has been the subject of protests and now calls for action in national courts, could clear the way for hundreds of other vegetable patents to follow, a source said.
In a rather legal format, the EPO announced on 25 October that an oral hearing in the so-called “broccoli” case had been cancelled, which observers say clears the way for approval of the patent in question. The cancellation of hearing came from the removal of objection by competing companies to the patent filer.
The move calls into question the bounds of patentability on plants and animals, after the EPO appeal board last year rejected patents on conventional breeding such as occurs in nature. The European Patent Office Enlarged Board of Appeal was asked to review the patentability of a grant on broccoli, and another patent on a tomato. The patented broccoli and tomato plants were not genetically modified, but rather simply bred conventionally as farmers have done for ages, according to sources.
Plant varieties are not patentable and are protected under a sui generis system at the International Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties (UPOV).
The board in December 2010 decided that “essentially biological processes for the production of plants (or animals)” are excluded from patentability (IPW, Biodiversity/Genetic Resources/Biotech,10 December 2010).
The broccoli and tomato cases, one patented by Plant Bioscience Ltd. (EP 1069819) and the other by the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture (EP 1211926), had been brought before the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal after France-based seed cooperative Limagrain Group, Swiss biotech company Syngenta, and multinational food company Unilever filed complaints, respectively. Plant Bioscience already markets in the United Kingdom a “new variety” of broccoli made from conventional breeding methods.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The thin line between personal freedom in the form of public nudity and public health concerns over such touchy issues as bare bums on restaurant chairs may soon lead to tougher legislation in that city of baring-it-all comfortably, San Francisco. The Los Angeles Times notes that a debate is underway in California over acceptable behaviour since a city official introduced “a measure to put limits on nudity and provide posterior protection for public seating”.
The San Francisco Chronicle sees the new legislation as one more effort to make the city appear “kooky” because it is so limited in scope. “Why? If these guys were opening a trench coat and exposing themselves to bystanders in a supermarket parking lot we’d call them creeps. But if they sit on public chairs and expose themselves to bystanders, they’re defenders of free speech. Here’s some free speech – when moms and dads walk their kids to school, they don’t want to see you naked. This isn’t a civil rights issue, it’s just obnoxious.”
The newspaper points out that even Berkeley and Marin have anti-nudity laws.
ABC7 news report
Ed. note: the second paragraph has a mistake and we are waiting for the corrected letter from canton Geneva. It should read: Family members will be immunized (not vaccinated).
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Parents of children in canton Geneva schools will be asked to ensure their children are fully vaccinated against measles, with 80 cases now reported since January.
Several of those who have become ill were hospitalized, says cantonal public health doctor C-A Wyler Lazarevic, who has sent a letter to schools through the Department of Education.
GenevaLunch has obtained a copy of the letter, reproduced in full here. Note that a person is only fully immunized if he or she has had the disease or had two vaccinations, not just the initial early childhood shot.
Geneva’s current outbreak is an extension of the measles epidemic that began in France in late 2010 and which is still not under control.
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Measles, photo: US Center for Disease Control
Republished with permission from IP Watch
By Catherine Saez
World Health Organization (WHO) members 19 January raised strong concerns that a working group they mandated last May to address problems with WHO policy on counterfeit and substandard medicines has yet to be formed – with four months remaining before it must report back to members.
One delegation called for a halt to WHO activities on anti-counterfeiting until the outcome of the working group is accepted by member states.
WHO Director General Margaret Chan told members of the WHO Executive Board today that a first meeting of a dedicated working group would be held in late February. The Board is meeting from 17-25 January.
Countries said falsified medicines were a threat for global public health but according to some delegates, the solution cannot be dominated by intellectual property rights enforcement concerns.
The UN health agency’s HIV/Aids strategy also was discussed Tuesday with a request from countries to emphasize prevention.
Montreux, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Coordinated international response to a bioterrorist attack was simulated in Montreux 7 and 8 September in an exercise code-named Black Ice II, according to the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs. The exercise simulated an attack resulting in a pneumonic plague epidemic, and tested the institutional response to such an attack in order to better prepare for the real thing.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government has adopted new regulations for fighting the A(H1N1) swine flu pandemic, effective Wednesday 1 July, that put a greater burden on doctors and laboratories to more rapidly report suspected cases to cantonal public health authorities.
