Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998 Jimmie.turner@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 17 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include oat and wheat.
The Plant Variety Protection Act provides legal protection in the form of intellectual property rights to developers of new varieties of plants.
“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,” said Administrator Rayne Pegg, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). “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.”
The term of protection is 20 years for most crops, and 25 years for trees, shrubs and vines. The owner of a protected variety has exclusive rights to multiply and market the seed of that variety.
The 17 certificates are:
- the Badger variety of oat, developed by University of Wisconsin College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Department of Agronomy, John Mochon and William Tracy; agents thereof, Madison, Wis.;
- the UICF-Grace* variety of common wheat, developed by University of Idaho, Aberdeen, Idaho;
- the Merl* and SW049029104 varieties of common wheat, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, Va.;
- the Lyman* variety of common wheat, developed by South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, Brookings, S.D.;
- the Redwing variety of common wheat, developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Berthoud, Colo.;
- the AP Badger* variety of common wheat, developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Junction City, Kan.;
- the Wales and Westhope variety of durum wheat, developed by Monsanto Technology, LLC, St. Louis;
- the WB-Caliente, WB-Digger, Brogan, ONeal, WB-Stout, WB-Lyn and WB-Famoso varieties of common wheat, developed by Monsanto Technology, LLC, St. Louis; and
- the Billings* varieties of common wheat, developed by Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station (OAES), Sillwater, Okla..
* In the United States, seed of this variety shall be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed and shall conform to the number of generations specified by the owner of the rights (84 STAT. 1542, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 2321 ET SEQ).
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which provides time-limited marketing protection to developers of new and distinct seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers.
For more information, contact the Plant Variety Protection Office at (301) 504-5518, fax (301) 504-5291, or the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov./pvpo.
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