Stephen Howard29/4/04 1:22

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 00:54:32 +0100, Sacha
wrote:


You're talking about Plant Breeder's Rights which is just the same as a
Patent. The breeder of the plant has to breed or discover it, propagate
enough of it to go for testing as to viability and reliability and pay to
have it registered.
snip

In reality, It's not worth their while policing your garden! They're
interested in commercial growers taking hundreds or thousands of illegal
cuttings and avoiding payment of a percentage to the breeder and the agent.
We've had to take action against someone doing just that in another country,
hoping they wouldn't be spotted.
I wouldn't worry about your own small number of cuttings but equally, please
do not dismiss people who spend a lot of time, money and effort in breeding
the plants you like to buy as greedy.
And as a piece of information as a side dish, many of the plants you buy
with the brightly coloured picture labels in their pots will have PBR
attached to them e.g. Surfinias which, according to my husband *all* have
PBR. All those lovely David Austin 'own brand' roses are the same.
This is nothing new and applies to very many plants.


Put in that context, I can see the validity of the PBR - and withdraw
my comments unreservedly. I hadn't considered the possibility of
unscrupulous traders cashing in through unlicensed breeding.

Many thanks for the informative perspective.

Mind you... what happens if you breed from such a plant ( as opposed
to merely grow cuttings ) - who would own the rights to the new
variety??

Regards,


Good question. I'll ask the boss!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)