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I. Introduction
A seed is a fertilised ovule of a flowering plant containing an embryo capable of germination to produce a new plant. Seeds are the first link in the food chain and represent the millenial efforts of breeders, farmers and nature itself to diversify and adapt to climate changes, variable soil characteristics and pollution.
Until the last century, seeds were a common resource for farmers. Archeologists report that over 23.000 years ago the first human tribes in North America and Mexico started to save and select seeds by discovering that fruits having different shape and taste could be crossed and their seeds could be re-planted to get different fruits’ varieties. Over the following centuries, through continuous hybridisations and climate mutations, humans reached the early stage of crops we have come to know. At the beginning of the 20th century researchers discovered that plant immunity to certain infectious diseases was a trait attainable by breeding and started to study the genetics of plants. Advances were first made by hybridisation and selection; at a later stage a range of other technologies such as genetic enhancement by genetic transformation, tissue culture, mutagenesis, and a range of marker aided selection methodologies were applied. Efforts in plant breeding led to huge effects on yield and quality, yet only for the relatively small number of crops which were targeted by those efforts. Crop improvements on major varieties such as maize, wheat, rice and cotton boosted the establishment of a commercialised market for improved seeds and corresponding inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides. As a result, in many regions of the world increasing productivity allowed farmers to overcome food scarcity and to generate a market-oriented agriculture. However, the dependence on external inputs rose, too. Crop research became increasingly privatised and as a consequence the protection of intellectual property rights on plant genetic resources by plant variety protection (PVP) or patenting started to be pursued.
As is clear from above, historically agriculture is one of the first economic sectors where life forms have encountered intellectual property rights (IPRs) and the increasing quest to protect newly bred crops through monopoly. This process started in the 1980s in the United States where agrochemical corporations and multinationals, due to the decrease of profit opportunties deriving...