Success for No Patents on Seeds!

4 November 2021 / The beer companies, Carlsberg and Heineken, are currently asking the European Patent Office (EPO) to revoke one of their controversial patents (EP2384110). The patent claims the barley, which was not obtained from genetic engineering methods, as well as the beer produced thereof. No Patents on Seeds! filed an opposition in 2017 because patents on conventional breeding are prohibited. The EPO rejected the opposition in 2018 and No Patents on Seeds! subsequently filed an appeal against the decision. The companies are now dropping the patent even though no legal decision has been made. Consequently, it seems to be only a matter of time before the patent is lapsed.