Frogleg wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:51:29 +0100, Victoria Clare
wrote:

(Nick Maclaren) wrote in news:c6qbg3$ek6$1
:

You may ignore all such crap, until and unless the monopolists
get the IP laws extended to covering such things. At MOST, you are
forbidden to propagate plants FOR SALE, and that applies only to
plants with Plant Breeder's Rights.

And we hope not.

I believe that patenting a living thing is not, and should not be, the same
as patenting a simple gadget.

Anyone for copyleft plants?

(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses...WhatIsCopyleft)

Patenting and copyrighting everything from seeds to trashcan (dustbin)
icons has obviously gotten out of hand. However, when a living thing
or invention or process has been deliberately developed at
considerable (or any) cost, and is sold or traded with at least part
of its value coming from a unique characteristic, it seems only
reasonable to pay for it.

This policy in no way prevents anyone from giving away the results of
their personal efforts if they want to. But if my *work* is
plant-breeding or butterfly cultivation, and someone tells me my
'product' should be free to everyone because they're "living things,"
I'd tell 'em to go boil their heads!

And, on the other hand (or maybe it's on this hand all the time), my
blood boils when Western chemical companies go out and try to patent
or pbr or whatever plants which local people have been using with
wisdom for centuries. This is the kind of thing which underlies the
more fraudulent aspects of the "Green Revolution", and GMO, and the
EU's prohibition on the sale of seed varieties our ancestors developed
and preserved because they knew what they were doing. It isn't a
"level playing-field": _you_ develop a really big-time valuable new
crop variety, or a really big-timegood new computer application, and
see what happens to you when you go to market.

Mike.