WASHINGTON, March 22, 2011 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of six new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bluegrass, potato, ryegrass 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 from lower prices due to increased productivity, and from quality food, feed, fiber and other products, which 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 six certificates are:
- the Rush variety of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by J.R. Simplot Company, Post Falls, Idaho;
- the Western Russet variety of potato, developed by Idaho Research Foundation, Inc., representing the interests of the Washington State University Research Foundation, state of Oregon, acting by and through the board of higher education on behalf of Oregon State University, and USDA, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture. The Idaho Research Foundation, Inc., is a partner in the Northwest (Tri-State) Potato Variety Development Program and a signatory of the general agreement on policy and procedure for release of new publicly developed plant varieties in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, between Washington State University, Oregon State University, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho and USDA, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. In accordance with provision 2.2 of this agreement, Idaho Research Foundation, is applying for this PVPC;
- the Dakota Diamond variety of potato, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.;
- the Pavilion variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Blue Moon Farms, LLC, Lebanon, Ore.; --the Decade* variety of common wheat, developed by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, Mont.;
- the TAMsoft 700* variety of common wheat, developed by Texas AgriLife Research, College Station, Texas; University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., Athens, Ga.
* In the United States, seed of this variety (1) shall be sold by variety name only as a class of certified seed and (2) 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).
AMS 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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