Patent on coral fragmentation

[G.Alexander]

Well girls and boys we need your help which also would be in your own interest. There is a French company which is in the process of the apply to register a patent in coral fragmenting, shipping etc. The company tries to apply this patent worldwide and the process began 06/2003.

If this patent becomes reality every commercial fish and coral farmer / importer or exporter has to pay fees to the company using this very common technique. The process of audit will end this month so if nobody can prove these techniques where published before 06/2003 the patent commission can authorize the patent.

I am looking for references / publications before 06/2003 they will prove these techniques are already.

First this all looked like a yoke, but it is reality. Please all members help with this situation.

This is the original information, also the link to its online source. To see the patent just click the links in the text:


Regarding a possible patent on coral fragmentation –

Dear everybody, a friend of mine sent me this mail below here, which I
think you all should have a chance to read. Regards, Mike Arvedlund,
Sesoko Station, Okinawa, Japan. (arvedlund at speedpost.net).

This is the email:

“You will find below and attached some information transmitted by the
coordinators of the EUAC Coral ASP concerning a patent on coral
propagation techniques under application process. The patent application
is made by a French company. You will find here after a list of website
pages, at which you can view the patent applications (some are not
concerning the corals but are inserted as additional information).

http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/vi...r&LG=fr&DB=EPD
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/vi...r&LG=fr&DB=EPD
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/vi...r&LG=fr&DB=EPD
http://fr.espacenet.com/espacenet/fr/fr/e_net.htm
http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/vi...r&LG=fr&DB=EPD

You can also have access to the different data about of the patent
application through the European Patent Office (EPO) website
http://my.epoline.org/portal/public

to get in the website, you have to: register (it takes 1 minute..),
receive your username and password, enter your password and your user
name and, visit "File inspection"

The application number is : EP04102643

A lot of people are concerned by this patent. As an example, you will
also find attached a letter of information written by Waterweelde giving
the standpoint of this company. The EUAC committee think that the matter
is quiet serious as it seems that Aquaria that use such techniques for
coral propagation for quite a long time now, could not do it anymore due
to this patent. To use these techniques, the Aquaria should pay fees. If
not, they could be at risk to be sued by the patent owner. A lot of work
about coral propagation has been done with very good results by
different institutions in Europe prior to the French company who wants
to patent the technique. We think that such work should be taken in
account by the Office in charge of reviewing the application.

A message had been sent on the discussion forum of the group
(EUACCoralASP at yahoogroups.com), raising many answers from various
institutions.

It clearly shows that there is a general concern about that matter. We
invite anybody who is concerned by this matter to contact the EUAC Coral
ASP coordinators to see what evidence (document, litterature, photos,
video..) showing that these techniques were used successfully prior to
2003, could be gathered and sent to the office in charge of reviewing
the patent.
Then, a letter (with, as an attachment, all the references of the
evidences gathered) should be sent by EUAC to the office. It is very
urgent to act as the patent will be granted next month, 23rd june.
Anybody who thinks he can help should show up very quickly. The EUAC
secretary will be kept informed about the progress. Please inform the
EUAC secretariat about the undertaken actions.

Best regards to everybody.

EUAC Secretary General
Oceanographic Museum
Avenue Saint-Martin
MC 98000 MONACO
Phone +377 93 15 36 00
Fax +377 93 50 52 97
euac at oceano.mc

Dr. Michael Arvedlund
JSPS Research Fellow
Tropical Biosphere Research Center
Sesoko Station University of the Ryukyus
3422 Sesoko Motobu Okinawa 905-0227 Japan
Office Telephone: +81-980-47-6001
FAX: +81-980-47-4919
E-mail: arvedlund at speedpost.net

Source: http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/pipermail...ne/001923.html

[Adam]

ohh this doesnt sound good.

In the June/July issue of Coral magazine for 2005, there is an interview where coral magazine interviews Tropicornium and there is something in there about coral propagation on pics. (little things that coral frags are grown on) I think this idea about this type of propagation happened before 2003 but I dont know if anything is published about it........

[gqjeff]

Tropicorium has been around for yrs. Many yrs before 03... I think its **** Perrins company...

[Ger]

Alexander, have you contacted Bob Fenner and Anthony Calfo to see if they have any access to pre 2003 publications? Let me know if not and I'll drop them a line.

[G.Alexander]

Gary, not jet, it would be nice if you could lead them both through this thread.

Thanks, G.Alexander

[OUinLA]

Calfo, Borneman, Sprung, Delbeek, etc have all written on this or done workshops on this well before 2003. I don't think it should be too hard to come up with the necessary resources.

[juppy]

i know im being really thick here, but what do those links mean??

All i understand is that somebody is trying to patent fragging???

[wasp]

Is there still anyone who has not been banned by Reef Central? If so, this information should be posted there also, there are lawyers and other useful people amongst the RC multitudes.
Can't post there myself, somebody else will have to.

[shaggy]

Calfo's Book of Coral Propagation says `copyright 2001-2003' ... so it's been around in 2001, the most recent version 2003 [he probably has the notes from 2002 ...]

There can't be many methods that he missed. Heck, Sprung/Delbeek talk about propagation in their Reef Aquarium series [older yet]. I bet Tyree has notes from talks/demos he gave before that, too.

Nevermind aqualink and the `old boards' which I'm sure have plenty of fragging info prior to 2003.

I'd think due diligence would have some issues with this.

[requin]

Dear All,

I suggest all of you to read carefully the patents before commenting on it.

There is only one method covered by this patent, and there is still 1000 that can be used to propagate corals and which are not patented by this method. I don't even think that **** Perrin method is covered buy this patent. The issue is that some peoples will have to use their brain to find a method instead of copying someone else work.

Who said that somebody will have to pay fees ?, is anybody has contacted the owner of the patent before ?

When an equipment compagnie patents his method, nobody seems to complain, when the DNA of corals is patented, nobody seems to complain, so I don't understand this wave of misinformation and pannic that goes over the hobby. But I can see that there is uge commercial interest pushing this wave.

Make your own opinion, don't only surf the wave !

Best regards,

[Adam]

I would like to know which meathod is being patented.....

[invincible569]

requin, do you have more information as to why they are patenting this method?

[requin]

invincible569
The reponse is simple
Because they are the one that develloped it. There is many other companies culturing corals in Indonesia and only one uses this technique. All the others have nothing to fear from this patent as they use a different method.
If you want to know what this is about?, please read carfully the patents whose links have been given above, and make your own mind.
Don't let somebody else tell you what you have to think !

[Bojan]

I suggest all of you to read carefully the patents before commenting on it.

Could you explain where is the complete text of the patents in English language? I read carefully the English text in the links posted by Alexander **** , but i did not find any inovative procedure.

For example

Process and installation for reconditioning alive aquatic animals, in particular for the aquariums

Process for reconditioning a hermetic package (12) containing water (14P) and at least one alive aquatic animal (16), in particular intended for aquariums, the aim being to extend the maximum duration of transportation while keeping the animal alive, which includes the following steps: (a) opening the package (12) to access the water (14P) contained in it since the initial packing; (b) replacing all or some of the polluted transportation water (14P) with an unpolluted reconditioning water (26) prepared in such a way as to present physical and chemical parameters analogous to those of the polluted water (14P), and in particular at least a substantially identical pH value; (c) re-closing the package (12) in a leaktight manner in order to permit a further stage of transportation.

Is this all ?

[wasp]

Well it would be a bit of a joke to patent that... The patent would simply not be respected.