The result is that no one outside the major companies, not even the US government, knows which economically important crops, most of which are grown from patented seeds, might be vulnerable to emerging pests and pathogens. For years, plant breeders have been demanding genetic evaluation of these seeds and the crops they grow; To date, no such study has been conducted.
change in direction
But a May 2026 Justice Department court filing says seed patents are blocking agricultural competition and research indicates that situation may be changing.
In 2023, multinational agrochemical company Corteva sued Inari, a genetic engineering startup, for infringing its patents by, among other things, obtaining samples of Corteva’s patented seeds from public stores and analyzing their genetic makeup.
Although the Justice Department did not side with either company, its court filing stated that companies should not be able to restrict the public from sequencing genetic material submitted as part of the process of securing patent protection.
Notably, the department’s court filings came from the Antitrust Division rather than the Civil Division, which typically handles intellectual property issues. This difference suggests that the government views this extension of patent rights as an illegitimate way for a company to exclude other companies from competition.
The matter is still going through the legal process. But if the judge agrees, his decision could be consequential. For starters, competitors can begin to understand the strengths and weaknesses of seed varieties on the market and find ways to pursue that innovation, which is exactly the type of activity the patent system was designed to encourage.
Greater competition in the marketplace could provide a significant restraint on seed prices, reducing the burden on American farmers and taxpayers. Finally, researchers can conduct the studies necessary to begin reconstructing the kind of genetic knowledge that has been held in common for most of human history—an insurance policy in the best interests of all of us.
Julie Dawson is Professor of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; Kiki Hubbard is a researcher at the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison; and Paulina Jenny is research coordinator of the Urban and Regional Food Systems Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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