We're going a little off topic (though it's an interesting side topic), or two topics even... but still:
- I wouldn't take away that breeders are unhappy about their seedlines being used in other people's breeding/protective. For sure there are some people who are proprietary about it, but most, I think, publicly profess to it being totally okay. Once you buy them they're your genetics. It's good form to let the person know if you're going to be selling them or publicly distributing them or whatnot, but it's just being polite. Calling something a collab obviously implies both parties were active participants, as people have said a cut would have made both parties exact level of involvement clearer. That said I don't think it's totally uncommon in "the seed industry" for people to use collab to mean what's apparently (?) meant here? (I don't actually follow this stuff, I just grow things or don't grow things).
- Isn't there some sort of short term period during which companies can lay claim to particular plant varietals? I think it happens in flowers/etc, all the time, Burpee or whatever gets a... say 20 year... license to exclusively sell the seeds of some distinct varietal they've created, after which anyone can? There's a lot of discussion of this in podcasts, don't know anything more about it.