Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued certificates of protection to developers of 45 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bean, oat, potato, ryegrass, sorghum, soybean, watermelon and wheat.

The Plant Variety Protection Act provides legal protection in the form of intellectual property rights to developers of new varieties of plants.

 

Agricultural Marketing Service Acting Administrator David Shipman stated that, “a certificate of protection is awarded to an owner of a crop variety after an examination shows that it is new, distinct from other varieties, and genetically uniform and stable through successive generations. The public benefits as the recipient of lower prices from increased productivity, and from quality food, feed, fiber and other products, that result directly from improved plant varieties.”

 

For more information, click here.

 

Posted 10/27/2011
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