Re: copyright on house plants?

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005, David Dailey wrote:

> A wee bit of digging on the net tells me it is really neither copyright nor
> patent but plant law. Chapter 57 of Title 7 specifically deals with the
> 1970 Plant Variety Protection Act which provides legal intellectual
> property rights protection, to developers of new varieties of plants that
> are sexually reproduced.

Wow. I guess Microsoft could get a patent on an Apple, then.

Oh, wait, see Plant Patent no. PP14,757 at <http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q47552A5B>:

   Apple tree named 'Burchinal Red Delicious'

   Abstract: A new and distinct variety of apple tree which originated as    a sport limb mutation of 'Wells and Wade cultivar' Oregon Spur.RTM. of    red delicious apple tree (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 2,816), characterized by    a more uniform deeper red color, developing much earlier than fruit of    other red delicious varieties, and having a thicker stem and longer,    deeper red leaf midvein.

   Inventors: Burchinal; Robert (East Wenatchee, WA)    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation (Redmond, WA)    Appl. No.: 313685
   Filed: December 6, 2002

(Actually, while this is a real patent and Microsoft *is* listed as assignee, the assignee listing appears to be a clerical error on the part of the office of the patent attorney whose does work for both the inventor Mr. Burchinal and Microsoft. See
<http://news.com.com/Apple+patented+by+Microsoft/2100-1008_3-5205574.html>. But it's a golden delicious mistake, if you'll pardon the pun.) Received on Thu Jun 30 2005 - 01:55:00 GMT