How to protect a tomato variety from being patented by

[Allisa]

Hello all!

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to protect a tomato variety from being patented in Russia?

Lately, some of the agro firms in Russia started to patent well known open pollinated varieties of tomatoes from the USA and AUS.

For example, the well known variety like Grub's Mystery Green is now patented by "originator" БЛОКИН-МЕЧТАЛИН ВАСИЛИЙ ИВАНОВИЧ in Russian government register database:
https://reestr.gossortrf.ru/sorts/7952868/

Is there any way to protect a family's open pollinated varieties of tomatoes from being patented by other people and/or agro-firms in other countries? What steps can be taken to prevent that?

Thanks!

[DK2021]

Originally Posted by Allisa

Hello all!

I would appreciate any suggestions on how to protect a tomato variety from being patented in Russia?

Lately, some of the agro firms in Russia started to patent well known open pollinated varieties of tomatoes from the USA and AUS.

For example, the well known variety like Grub's Mystery Green is now patented by "originator" БЛОКИН-МЕЧТАЛИН ВАСИЛИЙ ИВАНОВИЧ in Russian government register database:
https://reestr.gossortrf.ru/sorts/7952868/

Is there any way to protect a family's open pollinated varieties of tomatoes from being patented by other people and/or agro-firms in other countries? What steps can be taken to prevent that?

Thanks!

I practice patent law in the US. As far as I am aware, "novelty" is a requirement for patentability in every patent jurisdiction. Having said that, how novelty is interpreted depends on the jurisdiction. In the US, novelty is interpreted as world-wide, i.e., the "invention" you are trying to patent must not have existed anywhere in the world before you invented it. However I am not familiar with Russian patent law and I do not speak/read Russian.



In some patent offices (including the USPTO and the EPO) one can submit a "third party submission" to inform the patent office of documentation that the examiner should take into account when examining a patent application. I do not know if that mechanism exists in Russia. If it did, you could inform the Russian patent office of the existence of Grub's Mystery Green prior to this application having been filed.


The Russian Federation is listed as a member state of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). You could possibly contact the Russian Federation office listed here: https://www.upov.int/members/en/pvp_offices.html

[PaulF]

If I remember correctly, especially from Star Trek, Russia "inwented" everything.

[DK2021]

Searching for "blokin-mechtalin" or "БЛОКИН-МЕЧТАЛИН", one finds that he is General Director of the "Partner" seed company, which is behind these registrations. https://semena-partner.ru/ They list a number of OP varieties (e.g., Amana Orange, Banana Legs, ) as well as F1 hybrids.
https://semena--partner-ru.translate..._x_tr_pto=wapp



I looked through their website using Google Translate and ironically this guy is quoted as saying (translation by Google):


I want to add one wise, in my opinion, phrase that I adhere to in my work: “An entrepreneur is the person who created something new and useful for people, but in no case copied from others.”

[MrBig46]

These "patents" protect varieties only in Russia. They do not apply elsewhere and applications would fail.
Vladimír

[DK2021]

Originally Posted by MrBig46

These "patents" protect varieties only in Russia. They do not apply elsewhere and applications would fail.
Vladimír

That's correct--patents are limited by territory. You cannot make/use/sell/import a patented invention in the country where the patent is in force, unless you own or have licensed the patent.
The question of novelty remains. I have no idea how anyone is able to patent an open-pollinated variety that has been available for many years and is therefore not novel. But then again, I would advise asking someone qualified in Russian patent law.

[PaulF]

Several years ago some company that sells seeds tried to patent the words "peas" and "beans" and "corn" and "tomatoes", etc. so that all seed companies would have to pay them for the right to have those words on seed packages.

In a world full of nonsense and political correctness, someone had the common sense to deny this application.

[hl2601]

This is an abhorrent thing...OP varieties and family heirlooms patented elsewhere?
Ugh.

[ScottinAtlanta]

Heck, you see this in the USA all the time - a catalog will just change the name of a well known variety, and suddenly the "new" variety comes NEW! and copyrighted.

[MrBig46]

Originally Posted by ScottinAtlanta

Heck, you see this in the USA all the time - a catalog will just change the name of a well known variety, and suddenly the "new" variety comes NEW! and copyrighted.

I also think that renaming a variety is far worse than someone in Russia creating a monopoly on selling seeds of a foreign variety. I don't feel that it affects me in any negative way.
Vladimír

[hl2601]

Hmm... I guess I feel both practices are wrong.
Karma is a powerful thing in the end

[DK2021]

Originally Posted by PaulF

Several years ago some company that sells seeds tried to patent the words "peas" and "beans" and "corn" and "tomatoes", etc. so that all seed companies would have to pay them for the right to have those words on seed packages.

In a world full of nonsense and political correctness, someone had the common sense to deny this application.

Um, no. You can't patent a word. You can try to get trademark or copyright protection, but with a common word used to mean what it usually means, you won't get very far.

[DK2021]

Originally Posted by MrBig46

I also think that renaming a variety is far worse than someone in Russia creating a monopoly on selling seeds of a foreign variety. I don't feel that it affects me in any negative way.
Vladimír

I think both practices are wrong. However, getting a patent is actually controlled (or should be controlled) by the law. Someone who obtains a patent that should never have been granted because the "invention" is not new, obtains a fraudulent monopoly. And in the end, one really wants a good patent that's worth the term--or you risk litigation that might expose the weakness of your patent (e.g., lack of novelty).

[MrBig46]

I think that's misunderstood. The tomato variety cannot be patented. In this case, it is a registration of the variety in Russia. The one who obtains the registration is the only one authorized to trade in seeds of this variety (applies only to the territory of Russia). A similar registration is valid throughout the EU. There is a catalog of varieties in which the seed company is listed, which has the rights to that variety. This company also maintains the purity of the variety.
Vladimír

[DK2021]

As I said, I don't speak/read Russian. Relying on Google Translate for the original poster's link above (and even spelling out the Cyrillic letters), it says "Патент" or "patent", which I interpreted to mean what the word means in English.
Nonetheless this situation seems wrong whether it is a patent or "registration". It seems odd that one can "register" a variety for the purposes of having a monopoly on sales (which is similar to what a true patent provides) when at least in this case the company did not develop the variety, and the variety is open-pollinated and can be obtained from hobby growers and small seed companies including some in Europe. So what happens if someone in Russia purchases Grub's Mystery Green from, Secret Seed Cartel in France, or obtains it from a SSE hobbyist? What's to stop that person from growing the seed and even saving more seed for distribution?

I am not against patents, at least insofar as the patent protects the work of a breeder and give the breeder the opportunity to recoup his/her investment. I have worked on a couple of plant variety patents (not tomatoes) but in these cases the applicant was indeed the breeder who developed a novel variety, sometimes taking many years, and had done all the considerable work of field testing for disease resistance, etc. My only experience with exclusive commercial sales in Europe is related to plant varieties (not tomatoes) that were indeed developed by the seller.