Hakim Fobia (202)690-0488hakim.fobia@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, March 1, 2011 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 29 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include bluegrass, fescue, mustard, onion, ryegrass, sorghum and watermelon.
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 29 certificates are:
--the Sudden Impact variety of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by J.R. Simplot Company, Post Falls, Idaho;
--the Katie and Rhythm varieties of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by DLF International Seeds, Halsey, Ore.;
--the Blue-Rriffic variety of Kentucky bluegrass, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;
--the PENN RK4, Cochise IV, 3rd Millennium, Traverse and Rhambler varieties of tall fescue, developed by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.;
--the Gazelle II and Dynamic II varieties of tall fescue, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;
--the Shenandoah Sport variety of tall fescue, developed by NexGen Turf Research, LLC, Albany, Ore.;
--the Pacific Gold* variety of india mustard, developed by Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, Moscow, Idaho;
--the NuMex Serenade* variety of onion, developed by New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, Las Cruces, N.M.;
--the Catalina II, Quicksilver, Manhattan 4 and Silver Dollar varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;
--the Charismatic variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Lebanon Seaboard Corporation, Huntsville, UT & Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.;
--the PHBNS1BLIT, PHKUKZQKE, PHBKKCBVIE, PHKUWMVKE, PHBKCKBVIT and PHOUOVXKT varieties of sorghum, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred, International, Inc., Plainview, Texas;
--the R07007 variety of sorghum, developed by Texas AgriLife Research, College Station, Texas; and
--the 4XCS34, 4XASSS4 and 4XMSAS varieties of watermelon, developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Nampa, Idaho.
*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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