Open source seed license

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The open source seed license (spelling: open source seed license ) is a license with which plants and their seeds can be propagated, sold, passed on or cultivated according to the principles of open source without restriction. The open source seed license takes the place of conventional plant variety protection or patenting and protects the seeds against private appropriation as common property . The Open Source Seeds initiative , which uses the license in Germany, aims to secure the basis for the diversity of cultivated plants and their varieties through free access to seeds, and to establish an owner-free, non-profit seed sector in the long term.

history

The origins of the open source seed license movement come from the United States. The Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) was founded in 2012 by a group of plant breeders, farmers and seed companies. OSSI in the USA works with a pledge . H. Anyone who uses the seeds voluntarily undertakes to do so in accordance with the usage guidelines and to renounce patents and plant variety protection.

The German NGO Agrecol eV, based in Marburg , presented the open source seed license in early 2016 and the service provider Open Source Seeds in 2017 . Unlike OSSI, Open Source Seeds works with a civil law contract. This makes it possible for the first time to protect non-profit-making seeds from privatization in a permanent and legally secure manner.

mechanism

Traditionally, seeds have been a common good in terms of their genetic makeup. More and more farmers are deciding to use seeds that are under plant variety protection and the supply of seeds under plant variety protection is increasing. So far it has not been customary to legally protect seeds as common property. If non-profit breeders forego plant variety protection and make their new varieties available to everyone without restriction, there is still the possibility that others can apply for further developments of this plant variety protection. The Open Source Seed License closes this gap.

The Open Source Seed License is a sui generis contract based on the German Civil Code (BGB). Due to the civil nature of the license, rights and obligations can be transferred to the licensees. This can be done orally or in writing. It differs from conventional license agreements in that licensees do not receive any exclusive rights.

The Open Source Seed License is based on the following three rules.

  1. Everyone is allowed to use the seeds.
  2. Nobody is allowed to privatize the seeds or their further developments.
  3. Future recipients are assigned the same rights and obligations.

The conditions of the transfer must be made clear and precise as the basis of the contract. This obligation is viral and is also known as the copyleft clause . It includes all further developments of the corresponding resource, which sets in motion a chain of license agreements that never ends. In the long term, a legally protected common good can be created that is accessible to everyone.

The Nagoya Protocol is considered a strong legal lever for the open source seed license . It is a supplementary agreement to the international convention on biological diversity and applies to all genetic resources. It allows the owner to determine the conditions of use. Compliance with these conditions is ensured by the mandatory documentation when using the resource.

financing

Conventional breeding is financed through income from plant variety protection and patents. This possibility does not apply to open source licensed varieties. There is therefore no direct way of charging the user with the costs of breeding. Since the license protects a common good that is available to everyone, there are efforts to finance society as a whole in the future and not just through the sale of seeds.

sorts

A list of the varieties that are already open source can be found at opensourceseeds.org.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Open Source License | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  2. ↑ About us | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  3. ^ Johannes Kotschi and Klaus Rapf: Liberation of the seeds through open source licensing . Ed .: AGRECOL eV 2016.
  4. ↑ Open source seeds: seeds are almost like software - Golem.de. Retrieved on February 18, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ Linux for Lettuce | VQR Online. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  6. ^ Margaret Roach: The Open Source Seed Initiative. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Open Source Seed Initiative. In: Adaptive Seeds. Retrieved February 18, 2020 (American English).
  8. ↑ About. Retrieved February 18, 2020 (American English).
  9. ↑ The Open Source License | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  10. ^ Silke Helfrich: Bio-Linux or: Saatgut als Commons. In: CommonsBlog. April 14, 2017, accessed on February 18, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ Vandana Shiva: Biopiracy: Colonialism of the 21st Century: An Introduction . Unrast Verlag, 2002.
  12. ↑ The Open Source License | OpenSourceSeeds. Retrieved February 18, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Johannes Kotschi, Bernd Horneburg: The Open Source Seed License: A novel approach to safeguarding access to plant germplasm . In: PLOS Biology . tape 16 , no. 10 , 23 October 2018, ISSN  1545-7885 , p. e3000023 , PMID 30352056 .
  14. ↑ Johannes Kotschi and Johannes Wirz: Who pays for the seeds? Thoughts on the financing of organic plant breeding . Ed .: AGRECOL eV 2015.