A patent granted and recorded by a patent agency, such as the U.S. Patent Office, specifically for plants. The development of a new species or hybrid often takes a considerable investment in both years and money. A plant patent protects that investment by recognizing the hybridizer as the sole owner of the patented plant. As such, any attempt to reproduce a patented plant is prohibited except by licensed propagators or by those to whom the owner of the patent has otherwise given express permission. Patent information is usually printed on the tag or plant stake accompanying the plant.
a federal grant of an exclusionary right that simply provides a means of control for the patent owner over a new plant's propagation, use, and sale during the life of the patent
a grant by the government to an inventor (or his heirs or assigns) who has "invented" or discovered and asexually reproduced a distinct and new variety of plant, other than a tuber propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state
two distinct forms of plant patent or patent-like protection are available for new plant varieties; (a) 1930 Plant Patent Act (PPA), PTO may grant patents for asexually reproduced varieties and (b) under the 1970 Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) protection of new sexually reproduced varieties are protected by the Department of Agriculture.
There are three different types of patents; utility, design and plant patents. A plant patent may be granted for a new and distinct variety of plant that is asexually reproduced.
A patent issued for new strains of asexually reproducing plants. Plant patents last for 17 years from the date the patent issues.