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Maintain free choice in the raw materials sector
With the campaign, all shareholder breweries of the Werteverbund are committed to maintaining diversity and free choice in the raw materials sector. At the same time, they call for solidarity for entrepreneurial freedom of regionally operating breweries and beer diversity. With the campaign Die Freien Brauer want to achieve that responsible persons of the countries, the federation and the patent offices make themselves strong for the fact that a legally clear and clear guideline for the interpretation of the European patent right is passed, which excludes all plants on basis of conventional breeding methods generally from the patenting. Signatures for the petition are being collected on the campaign site www.die-freien-gerstensorten.com.
Until the end of June, consumers can support the campaign
Jürgen Keipp fears a weakening of the entrepreneurial freedom of breweries through the patenting of conventionally bred plantsMr. Keipp, Die Freien Brauer are not known for speaking out on political issues at the national level as an association of values. How did the commitment against patents on malting barley come about?
Jürgen Keipp: We were informed about the issue last year by one of our shareholder breweries from Austria, Privatbrauerei Hirt. In addition to Die Freien Brauer, Hirter is also involved in the CulturBrauer Österreich association, which has filed a lawsuit against Heineken and Carlsberg. These two global players in the brewing industry were granted several European patents on conventionally bred barley in 2016, which also extend to malting barley varieties used in brewing beer. Several non-governmental organizations and also associations such as CulturBrauer had filed appeals against the European patents, but these were rejected in 2018. Then, in 2021, an appeal against this decision was also rejected, thus confirming one of the patents in the last instance by the European Patent Office. In the eyes of our shareholders, this is an abuse of patent law, a weakening of plant variety rights, and a drastic restriction of the entrepreneurial freedom of breweries.
We therefore fear negative consequences for our entire industry in the near future. For this reason, the consensus among us in the Values Network was very quickly found that we had to take action against this development and mobilize the industry. It soon became clear that we were not the only ones. For example, the Braugersten-Gemeinschaft e.V. (Malting Barley Association) reacted immediately to the rejected lawsuit filed by CulturBrauer 2021 and, in its press release, appealed to politicians to adopt a legally clear and unambiguous directive that generally excludes all plants based on conventional breeding methods from patenting.
This explains the initial situation, but why did explicitly Die Freien Brauer take up this topic?
Keipp: If not us, then who? Die Freien Brauer are not an association with a political mission that represents the industry nationally and at EU level. We are a value association of free entrepreneurs who can speak up for industry issues that affect the associates. We are not part of the association structure nationally and at EU level; we can act freely and are the authentic addressee, as the action can be built and logically justified on the seven values of our community. We want to preserve diversity and freedom of choice in the raw materials sector. In short: We are independent brewers and we want free barley varieties. In addition, we have a strong following among the general public thanks to our breweries with strong regional roots, which enables us to win votes - an incredible asset that an industry association certainly cannot mobilize in this way. And what's more, our shareholders have a strong network and are therefore in a position to win over the relevant supporters and decision-makers from the industry for the project.
Because this concerns us all, and from the beginning it was clear that we cannot be successful alone. We need comrades-in-arms for the cause. That's why I started by doing a little digging and talking to industry insiders, all of whom gave us positive feedback. We therefore put the issue on the agenda as a high priority at the shareholders' meeting in the fall of 2021 and decided unanimously that we would act. But as you rightly pointed out, we are not appropriately positioned in terms of lobbying and have found a strong partner in the initiative "No Patents on Seeds!" (NPOS), we have found a strong partner who supports us in all matters related to the commitment to the right to free choice of barley varieties.
Dr. Christoph Then: "Access to biodiversity, which is needed for further breeding, must not be controlled, hindered or blocked by patents."Dr. Then, you have been working on the issue of "No patents on seeds" for many years, and the topic that concerns brewers is only one segment. Why did you offer yourself as a partner to Die Freien Brauer? What synergies and advantages do you see in joint involvement?
Dr. Christoph Then: Yes, that is correct. We have a complex issue as an objective, which concerns seeds quite fundamentally. We want to maintain the independence of breeders, gardeners and farmers who breed, cultivate or propagate conventional plants and animals. Access to the biodiversity needed for further breeding must not be controlled, hindered or blocked by patents. And in this work, we are pleased to have the support of partners from different segments who are affected by these patents and draw attention to these problems from their point of view.
And beer in particular is a very emotional topic, not only in Germany. That's why we're hoping for a big response from the campaign of Die Freien Brauer, which will not only raise awareness of the issue of patents on malting barley, but also strengthen our position as an initiative as a whole. After all, this is not just about a patent and malting barley, but about a very fundamental issue: control over the foundations of our food and the monopolization of seeds. We must take action against this together. That is why we are very pleased about this initiative of the association Die Freien Brauer, it can mobilize supporters from the industry, the public up to politics.
Mr. Keipp, what exactly is the strategy and the national campaign?
Keipp: Following the decision at the shareholders' meeting, a streamlined campaign page was created to provide comprehensible information about the issue and to call on the industry and the general public to vote. With a counting function, each signatory is shown in real time the number of votes collected so far. This adds up our votes as well as those collected on the No Patents on Seeds! page. The campaign page is the anchor and is accompanied by social media channels calling for votes and directing people to the page. Further, we, as well as NPOS, have informed the national press and provided our shareholder breweries with a PR package to approach local press and populate their social media channels. Shortly before the launch, we approached a long list of brewing industry associations and influencers to get them on board with the common cause and to spread the word to their members.
Aim of the campaign: a legally clear and unambiguous directive on the interpretation of European patent law that generally excludes all plants based on conventional breeding methods from patentingDr. Then, what steps are you taking with the collected votes? Can you give us a short timeline with the next milestones of your work?
Dr. Then: We want to hand over the signatures to the governments of the contracting states of the European Patent Office by the end of June. We hope that in Germany a personal handover to the responsible Minister of Justice Dr. Marco Buschmann can take place. We assume that the German government also has a great interest in ensuring that plant breeding is not hindered by patents.
What specific goal are you both pursuing with the campaign?
Keipp: We want to raise awareness nationwide with the campaign and gain enough votes to actively support NPOS.
Dr. Then: We want to stop patents on conventionally bred plants and animals. Among the crops affected by such patents are malting barley, bush melons, lettuce and tomatoes. And that could be just the beginning if we cannot put a stop to these patents at European level.
