European Patent Office a “democracy-free zone”

16 October 2013 / In parallel to a meeting of the Administrative Council, the highest control institution of the European Patent Office (EPO), farmers and civil society groups are jointly protesting against patents on plants and animals, in Munich. The EPO had granted several patents on plants and animals derived from conventional breeding the months before, thereby ignoring demands from elected institutions such as the EU Parliament. These include patents granted to Syngenta on pepper plants (EP1597965) and to Monsanto on broccoli (EP1597965) and tomatoes (EP1812575).

Photos: Falk Heller/argum