Patent-free zone for classical plant breeding in Europe!

New report by No Patents on Seeds!

No Patents on Seeds! published a report on recently filed or granted European patents on classical plant breeding.

One example is a patent on breeding of a native trait in tomatoes, just based on crossing and selection (EP3911147), which we wrote about earlier.

Against this backdrop, No Patents on Seeds! is presenting a new proposal to clarify the provisions of the European patent law to prevent such patents from being granted in future and would only need some minor changes to be added to the current legal provisions. The proposal is in accordance with current patent laws and would only change their interpretation.

“Our proposal follows the logic and the intention of the EU patent law to define certain criteria for technical inventions that can be patentable. At the same time, all other methods for breeding would remain non-patentable as originally intended by the legislator”, says Christoph Then of No Patents on Seeds!. “We expect the EU now to come up with viable solutions for safeguarding the future of plant breeding”.

As explained in the report, the proposal could help to solve several problems such as safeguarding access to biological material needed by all breeders. It addresses the root cause of the problem instead of only mitigating negative effects created by patents on seeds. In consequence, even patents already granted in the field of classical breeding or on native traits could no longer be enforced in the European Courts.

Link to the original post and report here: https://www.no-patents-on-seeds.org/en/report-2025