Strange that a practice that has been practiced for tens of thousands of years by cultures all over the world has to stake a legal claim for itself, and re-brand as "Open Source" in order to survive.
Not so strange when you realize the amount money flowing to the breeders or their dominance over staple crop seed. US soybean area is expected to be about 83.6m acres. Patented soybean seed costs roughly 35 $/ac more than non-patented. That's close to 3 billion revenue to patent holders in a single year (patented seed has >90% market share).
Just to be clear, I'm not opposed to GMO. It could be a valid and safe breeding technique. The campaign to brand it as dangerous or evil is without scientific basis. However, I am very much against the patenting of genes, genetic traits, seeds, etc.
Very, very strange.