<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18812">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">My newspaper today (NRC/H,
a Dutch so-called quality newspaper) has a front page article on the patenting
of seeds, wich is perceived as a threat by growers. Until recently, they were
only subject to breeders rights - that allowed them to breed new varieties
themselves. Which is perceived as essential, e.g. because varieties have to be
adapted to remain vermin resistant. Else eventually the supply of food is
endangered. But patent law now allows breeding seeds, and (after recent
concentrations) the market is being dominated now by a handful of major players
like Monsanto (US) and Syngenta (CH). They consider further bredding with the
plants grown with their seeds as a form of piracy very similar to youngsters
making "private copies" of music. Farmers and growers are
pirates!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">While some of you are
perhaps primarily interested in copyright or software patents, such
developments show that there are *structural* problems in these
fields - presumably to be classified under the common denominator of
smart "rent seeking" action by major American (but also Swiss) players. ("Rent
seeking" is a term for lobbying by firms to get legislation that allows them to
make more money without producing more).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS">For those of you who read
Dutch I can cut&paste the articles.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff size=2
face="Comic Sans MS">reinier</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>