Yellow Bean Patent Owner Sues
16 Farmers and Processors in US

ETC group News Release
17 December 2001
www.etcgroup.org

Proctor's Gamble

Yellow Bean Patent Owner Sues 16 Farmers and Processors in US

How can monopoly patents threaten food security and the livelihoods of
farmers? The controversial Enola bean patent demonstrates the abuses of
intellectual property monopoly:

A US patent on a yellow bean variety has disrupted export markets for
Mexican bean growers and is now wreaking havoc on small farmers and
seed companies in the United States. The patent makes it illegal for
unlicensed users in the United States to grow, sell, import, or use the
proprietary yellow bean seeds.

Larry Proctor, the president of Pod-Ners seed company (Colorado, USA)
and the owner of the controversial US patent on a yellow-colored bean
variety, filed a lawsuit on 30 November 2001 against 16 small bean seed
companies and farmers in Colorado, claiming that they are violating the
patent by illegally growing and selling his yellow "Enola" bean. Proctor
holds both a US Patent and a US Plant Variety Protection certificate on
the Enola yellow bean.

"We were shocked to be accused of infringing Proctor's intellectual
property," said Bob Brunner, President of Northern Feed & Bean, "We've
been growing yellow beans from Mexico since 1997 - and they are not
Proctor's Enola beans." Brunner told ETC group that his yellow bean
seeds come from Sinaloa, Mexico.

Farmer and civil society organizations have condemned the Enola patent
as a textbook case of biopiracy because Proctor readily admits that his
proprietary bean seed originates from a bag of edible dry beans he
purchased in Sonora, Mexico in 1994. In his 1997 application for plant
variety protection, Proctor wrote, "The yellow bean, 'Enola' variety is
most likely a landrace from the azufrado-type varieties" (which
originate in Mexico).

The Enola bean patent is the focus of international controversy from
Colorado to Cali. The patent is being legally challenged by an
international plant breeding institute in Cali, Colombia, the
International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). The challenge is
supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
CIAT and FAO have responsibility for holding crop seeds in-trust for the
world's farming community. CIAT's gene bank holds more than 27,000
samples of Phaseolus (dry bean) seeds, and some 260 samples of yellow
seeds. Although Proctor did not obtain bean seed from the Colombian gene
bank, CIAT's legal challenge notes that six bean accessions found in its
gene bank are "substantially identical" to claims made in Proctor's
patent. CIAT and FAO officials are concerned that the Enola bean patent
could obstruct CIAT's mission to freely distribute yellow beans and to
keep these seeds in the public domain.

CIAT's legal challenge points out the yellow bean was "misappropriated"
from Mexico, and violates Mexico's sovereign rights over its genetic
resources, as recognized by the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Patent Challenge Stalled at US Patent and Trademark Office: It has been
almost one year since CIAT filed its request for re-examination of the
Enola bean patent. The PTO's decision has been stalled because Larry
Proctor's lawyers have amended the original patent by filing 43 new
claims! The PTO responded by merging the re-examination proceedings with
the re-issue proceedings, thus complicating and delaying a final
decision.

Action Needed Now!

Email campaigns targeting the US Patent & Trademark Office are rare.
However, since there is no alternative avenue for civil society to
register its concern, we urge you to send an email message or fax to the
newly appointed director of the US PTO, urging him to give careful
consideration to the re-examination of US Patent # 5,894,079 on a yellow
bean of Mexican origin.

The Honorable James E. Rogan
Undersecretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of
the US Patent & Trademark Office

fax: (703) 305-8850

email: stephen.kunin@uspto.gov

Subject: Re-examination of US Patent #5,894,074 and its reissue patent
application 09/773,303---

A sample message follows:

Dear Judge Rogan:

I am writing to urge you and your examiners to give the utmost attention
and deliberation to the re-examination of US Patent #5,894,079 on a
field bean cultivar named "Enola." The patent claims on the yellow bean
fail to meet the statutory requirements of novelty and non-obviousness,
and ignore prior art. The patent covers a bean variety of Mexican origin
that is clearly based on the knowledge and resources of farmers and
indigenous people. I respectfully urge you to cancel the patent and all
of its claims.

Sincerely,

Your Name

For more information:

Hope Shand, ETC group, hope@etcgroup.org, tel: 919 960-5223 (US) Silvia
Ribeiro, ETC group, silvia@etcgroup.org, tel: 52 55 55 63-26-64 (Mexico)
Julie Delahanty, ETC group, Julie@etcgroup.org, tel: 819 827-9949
(Canada) Bob Brunner, President, Northern Feed & Bean Co., Lucerne,
Colorado (US) tel: 970-352-7875

The Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, formerly
RAFI, is an international civil society organization headquartered in
Canada. The ETC group (pronounced Etcetera group) is dedicated to the
advancement of cultural and ecological diversity and human rights.
www.etcgroup.org