Can someone please explain "Propagation Rights?"

[Alex Olson]

I'd like to know how corporations can now actually trademark PLANTS - THINGS THAT GROW - and SUE people who grow them.

To give an example... apparently if you try to get seed out of a calibrachoa plant, OR plant separate cuttings of it, you can be sued for copyright violation! Some corporation claims to have "invented" the hybrid, so that means that no one but them is allowed to grow it!!!

For this reason, calibrachoa seed is ILLEGAL to buy in seed form, so everyone misses out on being able to grow it.

How is it possible that such a ridiculous law can be enforced country wide in the United States?

[zxcvbob]

Protected plant varieties only cover asexual propagation. The growers license doesn't say anything about seeds:

doesn't produce many seeds; that's probably why the seeds are not available.

Regards, Bob

[Jim W]

Its licensing, money and greed by any other name.. Some countries seem to be better at it than others.

You may find that some licensing applies only to propagation for 'commercial gain' though. At least that used to be the way it worked here (UK) for what we call 'breeders rights' (more or less the equivalent to "Propagation Rights". // Jim

[TOM KAN PA]

If you develope a plant that you don't want me to grow from a seed, from a cutting, from air layering, then develope it so I can't grow one. Ever go to a website and even though it states that you can't copy and paste the text or download a picture or at least without permission, you still do it? Ever go to a website where wedding proofs are and even though it states that you can't download a picture, you still do it? Or at least you try to do it and a window opens saying you can't do it, and by god you can't! So this technology is available, if you don't want me to use text or a photo then set it up so I can't. AOL has all their windows set so photos can't be downloaded.

[Beecrofter]

You can propagete anything you want for your own use. You will get into trouble selling or distributing however. Why shouldn't the plant breeder be paid for his work and talent?

[omi]

Farmers can't legally save seeds from corn if the original was purchased from Pioneer, et.al. In many corn belt states there are lawsuits brought by the seed companies and there is pending state legislation to help the farmers. But the states probably can't really do anything about it because it involves interstate commerce and comes under Federal jurisdiction. It appears the propagation prohibition does not apply only to vegetative propagation as someone posted earlier. -Olin.

[jrstark]

There are many ways around the "no-click" scripts for photos, all they do is make it hard for the average person.

Same with plants: anyone sufficiently motivated will figure out a way.

Janine

[jrstark]

Farming is a business. They won't go after the backyard growers because it is too hard to track them down and the profit isn't there.

Janine

[Zemedelec]

Probably it can't. So go ahead and propagate (plants I mean) just don't put the info on a billboad. It's like the opium poppy issue, in a way--I've seen them all over California, but they're quite legal to grow as long as you don't use them to make opium.

Now to chase those dragons out... zemedelec

[Marley1372]

It cant be enforced really, but people who spend time and money to come up with new plants deserve to have the rights to those plants. Just like musicians have the right to get payed for thier music. The laws concerning asexual propagation are meant for growers, not homeowners. You can propagate anything from the plants you already payed for as long as you arent selling them. Now, if you are interested in rediculous laws, how can this country stop people from growing and using for recreation plants that are found naturally growing in the wild?

Toad

[Salty Thumb]

"Warren" wrote in news:K%R4b.149476$2x.43017 @rwcrnsc52.ops.asp.att.net:

Somebody posted a link here or edibles with wheelbarrow full of Russian tomato hybrids probably within a month or two ago.

As I understand it, musicians sign record contracts and the record company pays them a set amount. The record company then sells the music at a fixed price (that is until they got busted) and keeps the profits. So in essence, people who download illegal mp3s are really ripping off the record company, whose executives and share holders, let me tell you, worked really hard to feed their families.

- Salty

[John Caldwell]

[Warren]

You only partially understand it. Just as an actor can be paid a flat-rate for appearing in a movie, or get a percentage of the gross or net, a musician can be paid any way they can negotiate. Acts that don't expect to sell very much may be smart to take a flat-rate, and let the record company take all the risk, but that's certainly not the way all artists are paid. Even so, the people who work for the record companies go to work each day to feed their families as well, and the stock holders are risking their money. Your 401k or pension fund may even have an investment in the music companies, so part of your money is being risked.

However the point is that people involved in the production and distribution of anything, including hybrid plants, should be allowed to profit from their labors, and not be ripped-off by people who think it's okay to steal just because there's a corporation involved. How the profits are distributed among the people involved in the production and distribution is irrelevant, and it's distasteful to hear people imply that it's morally okay for them to rip-off people based on how they understand the way the profits are divided.