Contrasting Plant Variety Certificates, Plant Patents, and Utility Patents
Plant variety certificates should not be confused with plant patents. The Plant Variety Protection Act and the Plant Patent Act of 1930 provide mutually exclusive remedies. The PVPA protects sexually reproduced and tuber propagated plants. The Plant Patent Act is limited to asexually reproduced plants, excluding tuber propagated plants.
By contrast, a plant breeder may choose to protect his or her new varieties under either the PVPA or the Patent Act of 1952. The PVPA authorizes the issuance of plant variety protection certificates; the Patent Act authorizes utility patents. The landmark Supreme Court decision of Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980), suggested the possibility of securing utility patents on plants previously thought eligible solely for protection under the PVPA. Two decades later, in the 2001 decision of J.E.M. Ag Supply, Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., 534 U.S. 124 (2001), the Court conclusively held that sexually reproduced plants eligible for protection under the PVPA are also eligible for utility patents.
Read more about this topic: Plant Variety Protection Act Of 1970
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