Good news for seed and plant breeding companies ?

Following a report about the European Biotech Directive (EU 98/44), the European Commission has adopted three recommendations, including:
=> it was always the intention (of the Directive) to exclude the patentability of  plants, vegetables, fruits etc. that are obtained by biological processes.

The European Patent Office (EPO) came to the opposite conclusion in how the Directive was to be interpreted - see G2/12 and G2/13.

It is unclear how the EPO will react to this - recommendations of the European Commission are not legally binding on the EPO. However, these arguments will certainly be used in any future invalidation proceedings.

Using patents to share technology

The WIPO magazine of August 2015 has an interesting article from Kyoto University in Japan about how patents are used to ensure that other researchers have access to their induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology. By patenting the technology, they can stop others from controlling it and they can stimulate new discoveries in this field by offering reasonable non-exclusive licensing agreements.