ETC Group: Syngenta to let Mega-Genome Patent Lapse: Daisy-cutter Patent Bomb

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Mon, 14 Feb 2005 13:46:49 -0500

 

 

ETC Group: Syngenta to let Mega-Genome Patent Lapse:

" Daisy-cutter " Patent Bomb Busted

 

ETC Group

News Release

14 February 2005

www.etcgroup.org

 

 

 

Syngenta to let Mega-Genome Patent Lapse:

" Daisy-cutter " Patent Bomb Busted

 

Following 72 hours of negotiations by e-mail, telephone and in-person,

the Swiss Gene Giant Syngenta confirmed to ETC Group last Friday,

February 11, that it would allow its multi-genome patent application

covering the flowering sequences in at least 40 plant species to lapse

at the European Patent Office (EPO), the U.S. Patent and Trademark

Office (USPTO) and around the world. Syngenta's announcement follows a

month-long campaign launched by ETC Group and supported by farmers'

organizations, trade unions and other civil society organizations.

 

The patent was called the " daisy-cutter " after the world's largest

conventional bomb, which has parachuted from US Air Force cargo planes

to clear troop-landing sites in Vietnam and during the Gulf and Iraq

Wars. The daisy-cutter bomb explodes about three feet above the ground

and delivers " shock and awe " by destroying everything living within a

radius of 1000 feet. The Swiss company's patent application

(WO03000904A2/3) claims, among other things, discovery of the DNA

sequence coding for the flowering of the rice crop. Beyond rice,

however, the company also claims the sequence as it appears in many

other major food crops from wheat to bananas. " Syngenta's application

even claimed monopoly over the flowering process in

yet-to-be-discovered species that use the same sequence, " says Pat

Mooney ETC Group's Executive Director. Mooney met with Syngenta in

Bern, Switzerland last Thursday and received a telephone call from the

company Friday morning confirming it would let the patent application

lapse.

 

Mooney and Andrew Bennett of the Syngenta Foundation debated the patent

at a Swissaid Conference on Gene Technologies in the Swiss capital

before an audience of 240 government- and civil society-

representatives including the Minister of Agriculture of Zambia and a

number of other Swiss corporation officials. Hope Shand of ETC Group

wrote to Syngenta on January 25th calling upon the company to abandon

its patent claims. The company replied in an e-mail dated February 8th

suggesting that the company was not pursuing the patent in developing

countries. " However, it was ambiguous about whether or not it would

maintain its applications in Europe and the United States, " Mooney said

in the debate. Following the public encounter, Mr. Bennett said he

would attempt to clarify the situation as soon as possible. The

February 11th phone call from Syngenta made clear that the patent

application will be allowed to lapse around the world. Subsequently,

the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant,

Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) in Geneva also

received a letter from the Corporation confirming that the patent

application will be allowed to lapse.

 

More Mega-genome Patents Pending? " We're delighted that the patent is

being abandoned, " says Pat Mooney now back in Ottawa, " but we are

concerned that there are still other mega-genome patents out there held

by this company and others that could pose a major threat to food

security. We need a commitment from the Gene Giants that mega-genome

claims will be withdrawn everywhere. "

 

Systems Failures - WIPO and EPO: Prior to the January 10th release of

its Communique (www.etcgroup.org/article.asp?newsid=493), ETC Group

contacted the EPO, the USPTO and the World Intellectual Property

Organization (WIPO) asking their help in rejecting the patent. " We were

encouraged that both WIPO and the EPO responded quickly and rather

sympathetically to our concerns, " says Kathy Jo Wetter of ETC Group's

U.S. office. " On the other hand, we were shocked to find that not only

were these intergovernmental bodies powerless to intervene in a process

that would attack world food security, but also that any decisions made

by the EPO would not automatically be passed on to the patent offices

of those developing countries giving national consideration to

Syngenta's application. While we were fairly confident that the EPO

would reject the most outlandish aspects of the claims - conferring a

monopoly on the flowering mechanism for 40 species - if the EPO

rejection was not communicated voluntarily by the company, the other

countries in the Patent Cooperation Treaty associated with the EPO

would have no way of knowing. It is often the case that patent offices

in Africa, Asia and Latin America - not unlike their European and

American counterparts - are overstretched by the sheer number and

technical complexity of patent claims and sometimes approve patents

without close examination. We need to talk to governments at the EPO

and WIPO about how to change their monitoring systems, " says Wetter.

 

Silence of the Lambs - FAO and CGIAR: ETC Group also wrote, in the

first week of January, to the Director-General of FAO and the Chair of

the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)

asking them to intervene against the patent in defense of world food

security. " It is shameful that we heard back from the EPO, WIPO and the

Company, but neither FAO nor CGIAR has yet to lift a finger to defend

the interests of the world's hungry, " Pat Mooney insists. " These

organizations need to get their act together. "

 

The Patent-too-far: " As much as we welcome Syngenta's offer to let

this patent application lapse, we believe the company should now

actively withdraw its applications in every jurisdiction to avoid risk

and uncertainty. Syngenta must also examine its portfolio of pending

patents and withdraw any that have similar mega-genome claims. National

patent offices should also act immediately to reject any pending claims

of this nature, " Pat Mooney concludes from Ottawa. " The bottom line is

that this company sought monopoly control over 40 major food crops. Had

the patent been granted, the company's control would have been legal

and enforceable and would have spelled disaster for world food

security. Once a patent is granted it could take more than half the

lifetime of the patent to get it rescinded. "

 

For more information:

Pat Mooney (Ottawa)

tel: +1 (613) 241-2267

etc

 

Jim Thomas (Oxford, UK)

tel: +44 (0) 7752 106806

cell: +44 1865 201719

jim

 

Hope Shand and Kathy Jo Wetter (USA)

tel: +1 (919) 960-5223

hope

kjo

 

 

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly

RAFI, is an international civilsociety organization headquartered in

Canada. The ETC group is dedicated to the advancement of cultural and

ecological diversity and human rights. www.etcgroup.org. The ETC group

is also a member of theCommunity Biodiversity Development and

Conservation Programme (CBDC). The CBDC is a collaborative

experimental initiative involving civil society organizations and

public research institutionsin 14 countries. The CBDC is dedicated to

the exploration of community-directed programmes to strengthen the

conservation and enhancement of agricultural biodiversity. The CBDC

website iswww.cbdcprogram.org

 

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