permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lflj@intrex.net>]

Beginning of the End for Patents on GM Crops?

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/announcingSIS35.php

Monsanto has just lost four patents on GM crops in less than five
months, thanks to the challenge mounted by the Public Patent Foundation.
The patents were all on gene sequences involving the cauliflower mosaic
virus (CaMV) promoter, which is crucial for getting engineered genes to
work. It is in practically all of Monsanto’s GM crops grown
commercially. The US patent office ruled that the patents should not
have been granted, because the claims were not new, or were so obvious
that patents were unwarranted.