From the New York Times:Saying the development of crops that could feed millions of people is being choked off by biotechnology patents held by large corporations, several leading universities are joining to share information on their patented technologies and make them more widely available. The initiative, which the universities are announcing today in an article in the journal Science, is meant to help apply biotechnology to the creation of improved crops, especially in developing countries
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Besides Cornell, the initiative's participants include the University of California, the University of Florida, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Ohio State, Rutgers and the University of Wisconsin.
But note the limitations of this plan:The universities say that they will not let one another or other groups use their patented technologies broadly, but that they might preserve rights to the technologies for minor crops or humanitarian purposes, instead of giving total control to a single company."What they are more or less agreeing to do is not make everything freely available but to do smarter licensing," said Gary Toenniessen, director for food security at the Rockefeller Foundation.
Read the article here.