Unilever, Sears, Time Warner: Intellectual Property
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Unilever NV, the world’s second-biggest consumer goods maker, and Syngenta AG are challenging the validity of European patents on breeding processes for tomatoes and broccoli at a hearing that attracted about 150 demonstrators.
The hearing, which began yesterday at the European Patent Office, will establish the validity of patents on breeding vegetables. A unit of Basel, Switzerland-based Syngenta and Unilever, based in London and Rotterdam, challenged the patents as invalid because they cover a biological rather than technical process.