USDA grants certificates of protection to developers of 39 new varieties of seed-reproduced, tuber-propogated plants

Andrew Rogers

WASHINGTON , March 12, 2012 (press release) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 39 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber propagated plants. They include celery, cotton, lettuce, potato, ryegrass 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 Acting Administrator Robert Keeney, 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 39 certificates are:


--the Mission variety of celery, developed by Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Basel, Switzerland;


--the FM 9058F variety of cotton, developed by Cotton Seed International Proprietary Limited (ACN 065 327 915), Wee Waa, Australia & Bayer CropScience GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Germany;


--the Sun Valley and Sweetheart varieties of lettuce, developed by Central Valley Seeds, Inc., Salinas, Calif.;
--the Contender, Sizzler, Straight Shot and Headhunter varieties of lettuce, developed by Harris Moran Seed Company, Modesto, Calif.;


--the EMMA variety of potato, developed by Irish Potato Marketing Ltd., Dublin, Ireland;


--the FL 2126 and FL 2086 varieties of potato, developed by Frito-Lay North America, Inc., Plano, Texas;


--the Dakota Crisp variety of potato, developed by NDSU Research Foundation, Fargo, N.D.;


--the Harrier variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Seed Research of Oregon, Corvallis, OR & Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.;


--the Plateau variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Pure-Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.;


--the Flash II variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Mountain View Seeds, Salem, Ore;


--the Prototype, Overdrive and Notable varieties of perennial ryegrass, developed by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ & Novel AG, Inc., Saint Paul, Ore.;


--the Pacesetter II variety of perennial ryegrass, developed by Novel AG, Inc., Saint Paul, OR & Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, N.J.; and


--the XB50K10, XB56X10, RJS57003, RJS25005, RJS19003, RJS17003, RJS03003, XR40K10, XR36P10, XR32R10, XR03B10, XR56F10, XB04S10, 900Y61, 98Y12, 92Y61, 94Y81, 90Y21, 95Y10 and 92Y54 varieties of soybean, developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Johnston, Iowa.


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.

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