Plant Patent Act

Asexually reproduced varieties including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber propagated plant or plant found in an uncultivated state, that is, according to the legislative history, the Irish potato and Jerusalem artichoke varieties, may be protected under the 1930 Plant Patent Act or PPA by a plant patent issued by the Patent and Trademark Office. By judicial interpretation, bacteria are also precluded from protection under the Plant Patent Act. Protection for a 17 year term is provided against the unauthorized asexual reproduction of the plant, or use or sale of the plant. 

In light of Chakrabarty, it appears that section 101 specifically protects man-made life forms at the microorganism and plant level, including plant life itself. However, in the 1930 Plant Patent Act and the 1970 Plant Variety Protection Act, Congress has specifically set forth how and under what conditions plant life covered by these Acts should be protected. Since the plant patent provision was added to the predecessor of section 101, it is clear that Congress intended a "distinct... 

There are a limited number of issued patents and published patent applications relating to the use of recombinant DNA techniques in higher plants or in organisms which infect or otherwise are associated with them. It is expected that with the Hibberd decision, increased use will be made of the utility patent system to obtain coverage for plants per se, despite the alternatives provided by the Plant Patent Act and by the PVPA. 

Kathleen Hefferon completed her PhD in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. She worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Georgia and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University. She became cofounder of two start-up biotechnology companies using patents based upon her own and other research performed at Cornell University. Dr. Hefferon most recently held the title of Director of Operations, Human Metabolic Research Unit, Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University. She also acts as a science writer for the Center for Hepatitis C Research at Rockefeller University in New York City and as an expert selector for the Infection and Immunity Division of the Medical Research Council, in London. She currently lives in the Fingerlakes region of New York with her husband and two children. 

Specific molecular bioassays can be indispensable in screening compounds that act on certain biosynthetic pathways or enzymes. For example, recent patents report a screening bioassay for detection of herbicides that specifically inhibit the plant purine biosynthetic pathway. Many enzymes are involved in this... 

Based on their alkyl nitrite technology, Ube developed their own new proeess for the manufacture of dialkyl oxalates by oxidative carbonylation of alcohols. This process is a two-step reaction, in which alkyl nitrite acts as an reoxidant for the palladium catalyst system, similarly to the situation in the preparation of dialkyl carbonates mentioned above. The published patent literature does not make it possible to give exact details about the Ube industrial plant in Yamaguchi, Japan, which has produced several thousands tons of dibutyl oxalate annually since 1978. The first step of the manufacturing process for dialkyl oxalates is the preparation of the gaseous alkyl nitrite from NO, oxygen, and... 

National patent offices act within the boundaries of the country they exist within and apply that country s patent law. Patent applicants may file applications directly with national patent offices in each country where patent protection is required. The decision of where to hie an application is generally based on the predicted potential markets for the invention. For example, a crop plant genetically modihed to be resistant to frost may only be marketable in countries with colder climates and with markets open to genetically modihed foods. Another consideration is the patentable subject matter allowed in each jurisdiction. For this product, an inventor can seek patent protection for a plant in the United States, but not Canada or Europe. The most cost-effective strategy for an invention that is only marketable in a small number of countries is to hie patent applications directly with individual national patent offices. 

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