Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998jimmie.turner@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Aug. 23, 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 sorghum and soybean.
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 PHB2WPYJI, PHKXUJVKE, PHBNPOQBIE, PHA7NQJKE, PHKLPJKYKE, PHOUTZ, PHBAXY7QIT, PHBR6KFYVI, PHBI35LVQI, PHKRSXF, PHKU3JBKE and PHAXYAQKE varieties of sorghum, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Plainview, Texas;
-- the RJS40002, 90Y30, 90Y70, and 91Y71 varieties of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa; and
-- the D5824620 variety of soybean, developed by Monsanto Technology, L.L.C., St. Louis.
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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