
Potato farmers cry foul as PepsiCo sues them - nkkollaw
https://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/potato-farmers-cry-foul-as-pepsico-sues-them/article26936480.ece?homepage=true
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chicob
This is the kind of bullshit that infuriates me as a farmer and the only
reason for me not to use GMOs and whichever patented cultivars. The rights of
farmers to resow has (and must have!) precedence over intellectual or property
rights.

These strategies have taken place in the past with GMOs, and I suspect will
happen again.

Branded seed sowing can be subject to some restrictions for a single contract
and crop for the purpose of the _destination of the produce_ , but the extent
of those restrictions should stop there and should not apply to 2nd generation
seeds or their crops.

I've had my share of shady contracts with 10 year long confidentiality
agreements. Never again.

Indian farmers have all my sympathy and support.

~~~
deogeo
> I've had my share of shady contracts with 10 year long confidentiality
> agreements. Never again.

The plague of NDAs has moved to farming? Is there anything more you're allowed
to say on the matter?

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chicob
It was a seed multiplication contract. I'm pretty sure I cannot name the
company or plant, or any other specifics.

NDA's are useful for signing contracts with neighbouring farmers so that they
cannot argue against differential treatment regarding prices. Of course
everybody knows who is being paid what, but no one can officially complain.

~~~
metalliqaz
> I'm pretty sure I cannot name the company

So I'm assuming it's Monsanto, then

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chicob
I can say you are wrong, but I won't say anymore!

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NullPrefix
It's not Monsanto, it's called Bayer now.

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rmbryan
The heart of the article: "PepsiCo has invoked Section 64 of the Protection of
Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 to claim infringement
of its rights. However, farmers groups cite Section 39 of the same Act, which
specifically says that a farmer is allowed “to save, use, sow, resow,
exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected
under this Act” so long as he does not sell “branded seed”.

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newswriter99
Trying to copyright organic life is tricky because as Jurassic Park taught us,
stuff tends to get out.

So did the farmers "steal" the potatoes used for lays chips, or did they have
no choice in their selection due to factors?

Monsanto's sterile "terminator seeds" technology are a great example of this
same issue.

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defterGoose
I often think (worry?) that this would be great material for a dystopian sci-
fi novel. Something about a rogue strain of engineered DNA killing all the
crops and leaving the world foodless. Kinda like the ice in Cat's Cradle.

~~~
newswriter99
How did I not hear about Cat's Cradle until just now.

I burned through the top 100 sci-fi books (audiobook versions, but still) in
2015. Somehow this wasn't on the list.

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apta
More abhorrent and parasitic behavior from companies and their lawyers,
targeting the poor.

~~~
ukwgz
Targeting the poor who are breaking the law and intending to profit from it.
It's not like there are no other potato varieties in the world. In fact I'm
sure regular potato seeds are cheaper than Lay potato seeds.

~~~
AlexandrB
> It's not like there are no other potato varieties in the world.

Patenting living organisms should not be allowed. It effectively gives a
corporation veto power on the reproductive process of a plant or animal by
making it illegal to allow that plant or animal to reproduce without
permission. This flies in the face of basic biology, evolution, and
agricultural practice.

~~~
metalliqaz
amen

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atdrummond
The damages per farmer are ~210,000 USD, for those not familiar with the
conversion.

~~~
joombaga
And to put this in perspective, the average agricultural household makes Rs
107172 annually, or ~1526.26 USD.

[https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/1608180417N...](https://www.nabard.org/auth/writereaddata/tender/1608180417NABARD-
Repo-16_Web_P.pdf)

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Causality1
The concept of intellectual property should not apply to living things in any
way, shape, or form. The fact it legally does is a moral travesty.

~~~
post_break
Just to play devils advocate. What if you spent 10 years breeding an onion
that always grows to 10lbs. You breed them over and over, using science and
hard work and suddenly you have this superior thing that wouldn't exist
without your work. Is it ok if someone were to take your onions and begin
growing them without discourse?

I'm not relating this in any way to this lawsuit, just your general idea that
intellectual property should not apply to a living thing.

~~~
colechristensen
You can't copyright clothing designs and fashion designers are still in
business.

> Is it ok if someone were to take your onions and begin growing them without
> discourse?

Yes. If you want to get paid to improve onions, get paid for work you will do
not work you have done (research grants, onion growers associations, etc).
Rent-seeking by owning living things' genetics is, I think, immoral. Rent-
seeking, in general, that is patterns that allow you to do one-time work to
get perpetual rights to future income is immoral when it passes a certain
threshold.

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nradov
Do you think that a virus should count as a "living thing" in this context?

Patents on genetics are term limited, not perpetual.

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colechristensen
If it is being used or modified with regards to a wild virus doing virus
things, yes. (no isolating and patenting a wild virus, vaccines, or research
into wild virus and variations)

If it is being used as a machine to edit genetics as a way to patent genes,
then yes.

If it is being used as a machine to do something less life related, maybe not.

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ohiovr
Another injustice for farmers there. Over here Pepsi costs more than milk.

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xbmcuser
This is why I am mostly against gmo as this patenting of seeds etc to me is
the worst thing for the world

~~~
stringyham
Wouldn't that be like being against the concept of vaccines because of
horrible medical lobbies?

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kwoff
boycott these:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PepsiCo#Products_and_brands](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PepsiCo#Products_and_brands)
(if you care anything about your health, this is not even difficult)

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muterad_murilax
Anyone knows if RMS still drinks Pepsi?

