“Plant patents are good for 20 years regardless of the method of development.”
20 years too long, in my opinion. But then again, I’m of the opinion that most intellectual property laws are obsolete and society just hasn’t admitted that we are living in a new era yet.
I agree that copyright law has been lenghtened beyond reason, but 20 years isn’t too long for plants because of the length of time it takes to propagate them. Even if gene splicing takes moments, still takes a long time to grow new plants in sufficent quantity to actually monetize the new variety. This is especially true for trees.
The holy grail in gmo ag is creating nitrogen fixing varieties of food crops so little to no fertilizer is necessary.
Imagine coffee and cocoa that grows in Oregon and doesn’t need fertilizer.
The restoration of the American Chesnut forest may be realized in my lifetime and I’m excited by that.