Select Sires, Semex, URUS, and STgenetics, four significant players in the cattle genetics market, banded together on January 13 to file a petition with the USPTO asking for the cancellation of two patents held by ABS Global, a Genus plc subsidiary.
The two patents that are being challenged, U.S. Patent Nos. 10,975,351 and 10,982,187, aim to assert exclusive patent rights over a cow and a bull that ABS has bred, respectively, as well as any first-generation offspring, eggs, or sperm produced by those offspring.
In other words, ABS's patents assert that ABS invented not only these animals and their characteristics, but also any offspring of the original two species that might arise in the future.
The petitioning businesses have requested the Patent Office to review and invalidate the claims of these two patents because they consider ABS's unprecedented efforts to assert patent rights over its animals to be in violation of U.S. law and detrimental to farmers, breeders, and the dairy and beef industries as a whole.
The companies have made a number of arguments as to why the Patent Office should throw out the claims, such as the fact that the patents are directed toward naturally occurring goods that are not eligible for patent protection, the fact that they are not sufficiently novel and are plainly modified versions of traditional selective breeding, and the fact that the claims are not sufficiently supported by the patents.
Although Select Sires, Semex, URUS, and STgenetics occasionally compete with one another in the market, David Thorbahn, president and chief executive officer of Select Sires, Inc., said that the company believes ABS's attempt to patent the by-products of selective breeding is detrimental to the general public and the cattle industries and goes beyond what is permitted by U.S. patent law.
The petitioners eagerly await the Patent Office's consideration of their contention in the upcoming months.