Legal points
The practice of patent protection (legally protecting) is an important tool to encourage the development of new useful cultivars, the practice is considered unethical by some people. To others,"protected cultivars" are the result of deliberate breeding program and selection activity by nurseries or plant breeders, and are often the result of years of work. "Plant patents" and "plant breeder's rights" (which can be expensive to obtain) is one of the means for the breeder or inventor to obtain financial reward for their work.[3]
With plants produced by genetic engineering becoming more widely used, the companies producing these plants (or plants produced by traditional means) often claim a patent on their product. Plants so controlled retain certain rights that accrue not to the grower, but to the firm or agency that engineered the variety.
Some plants are often labeled "PBR", which stands for "plant breeders' rights", or "PVR", which stands for "plant variety rights." It is illegal in countries that obey international law to harvest seeds from a patented "variety" except for personal use. Other means of legal protection include the use of trade marked names whereby the name the plant is sold under, is trademarked but the plant its self not protected. Trademarking a name is inexpensive and requires less work, while patents can take a few years to be granted and have a greater expense. Some previously named cultivars have been renamed and sold under trademarked names.
In horticulture, plants that are patented or trade marked are often licensed to large whole-sellers that multiply and distribute the plants to retail sellers. The whole-sellers pay a fee to the patent or trade mark holders for each plant sold, those plants that are patented are labeled with "It's unlawful to propagate this plant" or a similar phrase. Typically the license agreement specifies that a plant must be sold with a tag thus marketed to help ensure that unlawfully produced plants are not sold.
With plants produced by genetic engineering becoming more widely used, the companies producing these plants (or plants produced by traditional means) often claim a patent on their product. Plants so controlled retain certain rights that accrue not to the grower, but to the firm or agency that engineered the variety.
Some plants are often labeled "PBR", which stands for "plant breeders' rights", or "PVR", which stands for "plant variety rights." It is illegal in countries that obey international law to harvest seeds from a patented "variety" except for personal use. Other means of legal protection include the use of trade marked names whereby the name the plant is sold under, is trademarked but the plant its self not protected. Trademarking a name is inexpensive and requires less work, while patents can take a few years to be granted and have a greater expense. Some previously named cultivars have been renamed and sold under trademarked names.
In horticulture, plants that are patented or trade marked are often licensed to large whole-sellers that multiply and distribute the plants to retail sellers. The whole-sellers pay a fee to the patent or trade mark holders for each plant sold, those plants that are patented are labeled with "It's unlawful to propagate this plant" or a similar phrase. Typically the license agreement specifies that a plant must be sold with a tag thus marketed to help ensure that unlawfully produced plants are not sold.
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