> this is unbelievably stupid. no company should have rights or patents over a variety of food.

Wait until you hear about Monsanto/Bayer - a quick Google of "monsanto food patents" brings up the highlights.

>a quick Google of "monsanto food patents" brings up the highlights.

The cases seem fairly reasonable, given how the defendents were basically engaging in selective breeding to copy the traits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto_legal_cases#Patent_li...