The Open-Source Seed Licence | Open Source Seeds

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2024-10-07 05:00:04

Traditionally, seed is a commons. However, more and more seeds are being privatised based on patenting and plant-variety protection. Only a few international companies hold control over the global seed market. With their breeding programmes, they are promoting a largely uniform agriculture with only a few crops and varieties spread over large areas. They are limiting free access to breeding materials through interlectual property rights. This reduces plant diversity and increases the dependence of our agriculture and our lives on a narrow and increasingly powerful corporate sector.

Until now, it has not been possible to protect seed legally as a common good. If breeders forego plant-variety protection and grant unrestricted access to their varieties, there is a danger that these can be converted into a private good by other breeders. In other words: commons could be created but not protected from private appropriation. The open-source seed licence is a way to prevent patents and variety protection for good. The open-source rules were first defined for computer software, which led to the development of Creative Commons Licences, and are now being applied to seed.

The seed licence permits use of the seed for all purposes: to multiply it, to pass it on and to use it for further breeding. Any enhancements that have been made to the seeds are subject to the same rights. The licensee is not permitted to restrict usage by any means (e.g. through patents or variety protection). This obligation is viral and is sometimes called “copyleft” because not only the licensed seed itself but all enhancements to it are included. With the first licensing, a chain of contracts is started, which in principle is endless. Licensees become licensors, who pass on the seed with the same licence. In doing so, the licence gives long-term protection to a public good that can no longer be converted into a private good.