No European Patents for Essentially Biological Breeding Processes

MUNICH -The European Patent Office's Enlarged Board of Appeal has rendered its decisions in the so-called "broccoli" (G 2/07) and "tomato" (G 1/08) cases, bearing on the correct interpretation of the term "essentially biological processes for the production of plants (or animals)" used in the European Patent Convention (EPC) to exclude such processes from patentability, according to a press release by the European Patent Office (EPO).

The Enlarged Board of Appeal of the EPO is the highest instance in the EPO's judiciary and, as all other Boards of Appeal of the EPO, acts in full independence of the Office in carrying out its duties. Its task is to ensure a uniform application of the patent law under the EPC.