Michael T. Jarvis (202) 720-8998Michael.Jarvis@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2012 --The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 94 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bean, bluegrass, corn, fescue, lettuce, pea, peanut, potato, rice, ryegrass, soybean, wheat and wheatgrass.
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 David Shipman, AgriculturalMarketing 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 94 certificates are:
--the Accelerate* variety of garden bean, developed by Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Madison, Wis.;
--the Shiny Black Pearl* variety of field bean, developed by Colorado State University Research Foundation, Fort Collins, Colo.;
--the Corsair and Arrowhead varieties of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by Novel AG, Inc. , Saint Paul, Ore. and Columbia River Seeds, LLC, Plymouth, Wash.;
--the CV889022, CV721680, CV858395, CV536449, CV521290, CV460747, CV256816, CV646435, CV603860, CV678981, CV932121, CV951318, CV035322, CV625071, CV227310, CV805067, CV785802, CV622625, CV580523, CV581972, CV614443 and CV109397 varieties of field corn, developed by Monsanto Technology LLC, Waterman, Ill.;
--the NPXA5599, NPXA5489 and NPID3477 varieties of field corn, developed by Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Basel, Switzerland;
--the PH93G, PHF3P, PHGDD, PHNAR, PHGC3, PHJ8C, PHGWD, PHDTD, PHDWD, PHH54, PHPCC and PHF4R varieties of field corn, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., Johnston, Iowa;
--the Bighorn GT variety of hard fescue, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;
--the Heartbreaker variety of lettuce, developed by Central Valley Seeds, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;
--the Reba variety of lettuce, developed by Nunhems BV, Haelen, The Netherlands;
--the Linoy variety of lettuce, developed by Hazera Genetics Ltd., Shikmim, Israel;
--the Declaration variety of lettuce, developed by Progeny Advanced Genetics, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;
--the Platinum variety of lettuce, developed by 3 Star Lettuce, LLC, Salinas, Calif.;
--the Shamrock* and Viper* varieties of field pea, developed by Limagrain Europe S.A., Rilland, The Netherlands;
--the PA0757 variety of pea, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.; --the Agassiz* and Thunderbird* varieties of field pea, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Lacombe, Alberta, Canada;
--the Lochsa variety of pea, developed by Crites Seed Inc., Moscow, Idaho;
--the Spartan variety of pea, developed by Brotherton Seed Co. Inc., Moses Lake, Wash.;
--the AP-4* variety of peanut, developed by Florida Agricultural Experiment Station University of Florida, IFAS, Gainesville, Fla.;
--the ALLIANS variety of potato, developed by EUROPLANT Pflanzenzucht GmbH, Lüneburg, Germany;
--the Sifra variety of potato, developed by HZPC HOLLAND B.V., Joure, The Netherlands;
--the Aladin variety of potato, developed by Agrico B.A., Emmeloord, The Netherlands;
--the Premier Russet, Yukon Gem and Highland Russet varieties of potato, developed by University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho;
--the Rio Colorado variety of potato, developed by President, Colorado Certified Potato Growers’ Association, Inc., Center, Colo.;
--the MIRANDA variety of potato, developed by Saka – Ragis Plfanzenzucht GbR, Hamburg, Germany;
--the ROMANZE, LAMBADA, ALEGRIA and Eclipse varieties of potato, developed by NORIKA Nordring-Kartoffelzucht- und Vermehrungs-GmbH, Lüsewitz, Germany;
--the CL171-AR variety of rice, developed by Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Fayetteville, Ark.;
--the Catahoula variety of rice, developed by Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Rayne, La.;--the Manhattan 5 GLR and Gray Fox varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;
--the 93Y15, 92Y75, 94Y50, 900Y81, XR37H10, XR12F10, XB30C10, RJS09002, RJS32002, RJS25004 and RJS35004 varieties of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;
--the A1020078 variety of soybean, developed by Monsanto Technology, LLC, St. Louis, Mo.;
--the MFS-541 variety of soybean, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, Va.;
--the Duclair* variety of common wheat, developed by Montana Agricultural Experiment Station, Bozeman, Mont.;
--the Hopkins* variety of common wheat, developed by Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.;
--the Tiger* variety of common wheat, developed by Kansas State University Research Foundation, Manhattan, Kan.;
--the TV8848 and 26R10 varieties of common wheat, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;
--the Prosper* variety of common wheat, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.;
--the Hycrest II* variety of crested wheatgrass, developed by U.S. Government, As represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.;
--the Vavilov II* variety of Siberian wheatgrass, developed by U.S. Government, As represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.;
--the Snowglenn* variety of durum wheat, developed by Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc., Blacksburg, Va.; and
--the RIMROCK* variety of common wheat, developed by Dr. Peter Franck, Schwäbisch Hall, Germany.
* 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.
Get the latest news at www.ams.usda.gov/news or follow us on Twitter at @USDA_AMS. You can read about us on the USDA Blog.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (toll-free customer service), (800) 877-8339 (local or federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (relay voice users).