I'm sure there are some opinions on this topic out
there in Orchid Land.

My opinion isn't a legal opinion in any way, shape or
form, but just some musings.

I can understand a plant being patented that took a
lot of outside influence to make it come into being
(Aren't genetically altered plants actually modified
scientifically and there is *no way* that those mods
could have happened naturally??) I'm more leery of
patents on plants that can come about naturally. Let's
say you cross plant A and plant B and come up with
plant C and want to patent that. Does that mean that
*I* can't cross my own plants A and B and make a C?

I guess I look at plant patents (of the regular 'We
crossed A with B and got C' type) on the same lines
as copyrighted music from a CD. Once I buy the CD,
it's legal for me to copy that music to any medium
I like and use it for my own pleasure. I can even
copy the entire CD and give it to a friend. But I
*can't* copy the entire CD and sell it to that friend.

Tracey