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April 28, 2016

@Fred and Carolyn

I've also heard that there are no GE tomatoes on the market, currently (a year or so ago), but life changes fast and they have a habit of telling us about these things years after we've already been eating them (with some notable exceptions wherein they have traits that appeal to consumers rather than just to commercial growers); also, new GE tomatoes are said to exist, whether or not they're on the market, yet, so I've heard. That could be false, but probably easy to verify. When they are released they'll most likely be in grocery store produce, or products, though (not seed and plant catalogs). Anyway, that's why I said, 'or something', too. A lot of genetic manipulation can occur without genetic engineering (I'm not talking about via conventional breeding either, although conventional breeding is potentially *part* of the process). I don't really think Kumato is a GMO. It just looked like a possibility is all.

I'm interested to know why the Kumato tomato is patented more than I'm interested in knowing if it's genetically engineered, but an answer to the first should answer the last. There's very little legal ability to patent a tomato if it's not genetically engineered, though, as far as I know (tell me if I'm wrong), but I imagine exceptions may exist. I'm not talking about plant breeders rights when I say patents. However, companies don't always go for legal patents when they go for patents, and the patents are sometimes revoked later on when they're discovered to be illegal. But the question is, is it legal to infringe on an illegal patent that has not yet and may not ever be revoked? I mean, even if you go to court and prove that it's illegal, and they revoke it, will you still be prosecuted if you infringed? I'm guessing that's for the court to decide as far as they're concerned.

Anyway, you don't have to answer any of those questions I asked. I don't really want to get into an involved discussion. I'm just kind of obsessive, and responding with more information and thoughts than is probably common for conversion.

April 28, 2016	#14
shule1 Guest Posts: n/a	@Fred and Carolyn I've also heard that there are no GE tomatoes on the market, currently (a year or so ago), but life changes fast and they have a habit of telling us about these things years after we've already been eating them (with some notable exceptions wherein they have traits that appeal to consumers rather than just to commercial growers); also, new GE tomatoes are said to exist, whether or not they're on the market, yet, so I've heard. That could be false, but probably easy to verify. When they are released they'll most likely be in grocery store produce, or products, though (not seed and plant catalogs). Anyway, that's why I said, 'or something', too. A lot of genetic manipulation can occur without genetic engineering (I'm not talking about via conventional breeding either, although conventional breeding is potentially part of the process). I don't really think Kumato is a GMO. It just looked like a possibility is all. I'm interested to know why the Kumato tomato is patented more than I'm interested in knowing if it's genetically engineered, but an answer to the first should answer the last. There's very little legal ability to patent a tomato if it's not genetically engineered, though, as far as I know (tell me if I'm wrong), but I imagine exceptions may exist. I'm not talking about plant breeders rights when I say patents. However, companies don't always go for legal patents when they go for patents, and the patents are sometimes revoked later on when they're discovered to be illegal. But the question is, is it legal to infringe on an illegal patent that has not yet and may not ever be revoked? I mean, even if you go to court and prove that it's illegal, and they revoke it, will you still be prosecuted if you infringed? I'm guessing that's for the court to decide as far as they're concerned. Anyway, you don't have to answer any of those questions I asked. I don't really want to get into an involved discussion. I'm just kind of obsessive, and responding with more information and thoughts than is probably common for conversion.