Cheers on the monopoly
Wintergger
Photo: APA / dpa
 
Patents on brewing barley were approved in Europe. The monopolization of food production is threatening.
Andreas Anzenberger Andreas Anzenberger
04.03.2017, 06:00

The European Patent Office is working on the Americanization of agriculture in the European Union. Three patents were granted to brewer's brewers Carlsberg and Heineken. The patent also applies to the beers produced from the gerstenorten. If one can register a patent for the breeding of new varieties of malting barley, this also applies to all commercially usable plants.
Monsanto

"For years, seed companies like Monsanto have been trying to get patents on fruit and vegetables," warns Michel Reimon, MEP of the Greens. So far, the 200 applications for patents for breeding have been approved worldwide. Some also from the European Patent Office, such as patents on specific broccoli and tomato breeds.
Common line

On 20 February 2017 the EU Member States decided to jointly challenge patents on plants and animals. The European Patent Office is to change the practice to date of issuing patents.

On this issue environmental organizations, Austrian plant breeders, political parties and the EU Commission agree: patents are a dangerous step towards the monopolization of the supply of foodstuffs and foodstuffs in Europe.
Opposition

Therefore, several non-governmental organizations have filed an objection to the granting of patents. "Carlsberg and Heineken are trying to expand their market power at the expense of consumers, farmers and other breweries," is the criticism of Georg Janssen, Managing Director of the Working Community for Rural Farming.

Patents for breeding are common in the USA. The cultivation and propagation of the patented varieties is prohibited. In Europe, on the other hand, there is a different rule: It is only forbidden to breed and sell the varieties. This is called breeder's privilege. However, it is quite possible to use the varieties of the competition for further breeding. It is therefore impossible in the EU to build a monopoly on plants.
Genetic engineering

Patents are only available in Europe for genetically modified plant varieties. But they are cultivated on only a few surfaces.

The protests of the EU have so far shown no effect. In an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit, the President of the European Patent Office, Benoit Battistelli, said: "If you are the head of a national patent office, you are obliged to report to a ministry, a parliament, and I am a politically independent institution." Battistelli has the nickname "Sonnenkönig" with his opponents.

The CURIER has asked the offshoot of the European Patent Office in Vienna. The answer came promptly: There is no discussion partner in the patent office for media on the subject of patents on plants. Written requests are possible.