The image that 'grape has a software license agreement' is talked about

Tube Time, a Twitter account that loves vacuum tubes and vintage computers, posted an image of grapes sold in a supermarket on October 10, 2020. There is a lot of talk about this grape package as 'something like an EULA ( End User License Agreement)'.

This is the image. 'The recipient of the crop included in this package agrees not to breed or produce this crop, including seeds, stems, tissues and fruits.'

all right, this is a new one. a EULA on ... fruit ?!

'the recipient of the produce contained in this package agrees not to propagate or reproduce any portion of this produce, including 'but not limited to' seeds, stems, tissue, and fruit.' Pic.twitter.com/4dgiuCZato

— Tube Time (@TubeTimeUS) October 9, 2020

In addition, Tube Time posted an image saying, 'Some people think I'm lying, but it's true. It was written in French on the back.'

some folks think I faked it. It's real. It's even printed in French on the other side pic.twitter.com/CHmc12b9A7

— Tube Time (@TubeTimeUS) October 9, 2020

Software often imposes prohibitions on buyers regarding use, duplication, transfer, etc., but some dismiss the fact that grapes have similar restrictions as 'ridiculous'.

The mere concept of having legal restrictions on how you can use your fruit is absurd. Any justification seems like it would be an exercise in mental gymnastics.

— David Bradbury ???????? (@DavidBradbury) October 9, 2020

A user named Ian Farquhar also said, 'I don't think this will work. I didn't buy a grape license, I bought a grape. There is no confirmation step and no proper disclosure. I saw. It's the stupidest of all. '

Nope. Won't fly. I'm not purchasing a license for grapes, I'm purchasing grapes. Nor is there a confirmation step, nor adequate disclosure. This is probably the stupidest thing I've ever seen.

— Ian Farquhar (@ianbfarquhar) October 9, 2020

In fact, the grapes in the image posted by Tube Time are called ' Cotton Candy grapes ', a very sweet variety with a sugar content of 18%. Cotton Candy grapes is a patented product of the sweet but crumbled Concord grapes, licensed at an exhibition by fruit geneticist David Cain in 2001, crossed with tough grapes. For this reason, breeding restrictions were written on the package.

US20130055476P1 --Grapevine'ifg seven' --Google Patents
https://patents.google.com/patent/US20130055476P1/en

This Twitter post became a hot topic in Hacker News, and many opinions were received. According to a user named vikramkr, varieties like Cotton Candy grapes are very difficult to develop and '20 years of legal protection is reasonable'. Things go only slowly in the field of agriculture, so by the time the crops reach the market, rights protection has expired and patent income is small, but it will bring some money in the first few years. Is possible, says vikramkr.

On the other hand, there is an opinion that the right to such plants is 'a violation of the natural rights that people have since the invention of agriculture.' With this in mind, there is also a movement called the Open Source Seed Initiative, which lays the foundation for fair and sustainable agriculture by sharing seeds without monopolizing them, as in open source software .