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EPO Revokes Monsanto Patent On Virus-Resistant Melon

22/01/2016 by Catherine Saez, Intellectual Property Watch 10 Comments

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The European Patent Office on 20 January revoked a patent held by Monsanto on virus-resistant melons for technical reasons, much to the glee of opponents of patents on conventional plants.

Water Melon

The oral proceedings [pdf] decided to revoke the patent “because at least one ground for opposition prejudices the maintenance of the European Patent (Art. 101(2) EPC). Art 101 of the European Patent Convention deals with the examination of the opposition, and ground for revocation. The other reason invoked to revoke the patent was “…account being taken of the amendments made by the patent proprietor during opposition proceedings, the patent and the invention to which it relates were found not to meet the requirements of the EPC (Art. 101(3)(b) EPC).

According to an EPO official, the patent was revoked because it was found that it was lacking sufficient disclosure of the invention.

The patent was challenged by a number of parties: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (Germany), Bund Naturschutz in Bayern (Germany), Berne Declaration (Switzerland), Gesellschaft für Ökologische Forschung (Germany), Greenpeace (Germany), No Patents on Life! (Germany), Verband Katholisches Landvolk (Germany) and Foundation for Future Farming, according to [pdf] non-governmental organisation No Patents on Seeds.

According to the NGO, Monsanto was claiming melons with a natural resistance to plant viruses. The resistance was detected in Indian melons, they said, adding that the Indian government supported the opposition.

[Update:] The Indian government letter is available here [pdf].

The decision can now be challenged by Monsanto, according to the EPO.

 

Image Credits: Flickr – Kaustav Bhattacharya

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Catherine Saez may be reached at csaez@ip-watch.ch.

Creative Commons License"EPO Revokes Monsanto Patent On Virus-Resistant Melon" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Filed Under: IP Policies, Language, Themes, Venues, Biodiversity/Genetic Resources/Biotech, English, Europe, IP Law, Patents/Designs/Trade Secrets, Regional Policy

Trackbacks

  1. EPO Implicitly Acknowledges Declining Patent Quality by Agreeing to Finally Dump Some Monsanto GMO Patents | Techrights says:
    23/01/2016 at 10:33 am

    […] Watch wrote: “The European Patent Office on 20 January revoked a patent held by Monsanto on […]

    Reply
  2. European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons | Natural Society says:
    24/01/2016 at 10:40 pm

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply
  3. Bookmarks 2016 | /home/GNU/Linux/Ramix says:
    24/01/2016 at 11:32 pm

    […] EPO Revokes Monsanto Patent On Virus-Resistant Melon […]

    Reply
  4. European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons | Culture of Awareness says:
    25/01/2016 at 2:28 pm

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply
  5. HealthFreedoms – European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons says:
    25/01/2016 at 5:01 pm

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply
  6. EPO Revokes Monsanto Patent On Virus-Resistant Melon | ViroBlogy says:
    26/01/2016 at 9:00 am

    […] Sourced through Scoop.it from: http://www.ip-watch.org […]

    Reply
  7. European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons | NewZSentinel says:
    04/02/2016 at 4:44 am

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply
  8. European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons | says:
    04/02/2016 at 5:41 am

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply
  9. Disclosure Requirement In IP Applications Necessary To Comply With Obligations, Speakers Say says:
    19/02/2016 at 5:04 am

    […] Meienberg cited a recent case of a Monsanto patent on virus-resistant melons rejected at the EPO on the grounds of insufficient disclosure of the invention (IPW, Biodiversity/Genetic Resources/Biotech, 22 January 2016). […]

    Reply
  10. European Office Revokes Monsanto’s False Patent for GM Melons | – WORLD ORGANIC NEWS says:
    24/05/2016 at 10:54 am

    […] that is resistant to plant viruses, the fruit has these qualities naturally, and has been detected in Indian melons for […]

    Reply

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