Hakim Fobia (202) 690-0488hakim.fobia@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2011 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 33 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include pea, soybean 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 33 certificates are:
--the Sapphire*, Hudson* and Savannah* varieties of pea, developed by Crites Seed, Inc., Moscow, Idaho;
--the 91Y22, 91Y60, 92Y51, 92Y52, 92Y53, 92Y60, 92Y82, 93Y03, 93Y04, 93Y05, 93Y21, 93Y41, 93Y60, 93Y82, 93Y83, 93Y93, 94Y40, 94Y71, 94Y92, RJS22002, RJS23001, RSJ31002 and RJS33002 varieties of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa;
--the Ashtabula* variety of soybean, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.;
--the PSC37BU06 variety of soybean, developed by The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio;
--the Edge variety of common wheat, developed by Monsanto Technology, LLC, St. Louis;
--the 25R30, 25R40 and 25R34 variety of common wheat, developed by Pioneer H Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa; and
--the Snowmass* variety of common wheat, developed by Colorado Wheat Research Foundation, Centennial, Colo.
*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).
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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