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		donw on Oct 28, 2019 \| parent \| context \| favorite \| on: Block on GM rice ‘has cost millions of lives and l... If that's true, this is the real problem. Is there legal precedent for this? I can't imagine that there were cases in the pre-GMO world where seed suppliers claimed that they owned all of the seeds grown by a farmer, but I could be wrong. Would love to see some direct sources -- licensing docs from the vendors, legal cases, that sort of thing (e.g., not a link to a news article).

vonmoltke on Oct 28, 2019 [–]

Plants have been patentable in the US since 1930: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant_Patent_Act_of_1930

I strongly suspect, but have no verified numbers to prove, that the majority of currently-patented plants are not GMO cultivars.

rapnie on Oct 28, 2019 | [–]

Even with GM crops there are still ongoing legal battles on their patentability, e.g. on cotton seeds between Monsanto and Indian farmers:

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/agriculture/was-there-a-...

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