Volume 30 Number 1 Article 1 Pages: 4-6
Year 1976 Month 1
Title: Protection and Distribution of New Selections in Domestic and Foreign Markets
Author: F.H. Emerson
Citation
Abstract:
Historically, breeders of vegetatively propagated fruit crops, such as apple, have simply released their new selections for propagation and distribution without regard for control of such distribution or financial return therefrom.
In more recent years it has become more common for nurserymen to purchase the rights for new apple cultivars and then to patent these selections on an exclusive basis.
Fruit breeders working for public institutions have made, if any use of the patent laws to control their new varieties, but some have arranged outright sale of such new varieites to private industry or have had some informal relationship between a large nursery.
Even today the use of patent protection for other fruit varieties such as peach, plum, apricot, nectarine, etc. is quite uncommon.
For several years prior to the release of our first scab immune apple selcetion ('Prime'), 1969) we had offered 5 of out best selections as Coop numbers for grower testing and had sent these out to cooperatives in other states for variety trials.
The reactions from commercial nurserymen were rather surprising to us.
With the strong personal convinction that we had a marketable variety of considerable interest to growers - it was a real shock to understand that the larger commercial nurserymen, although displaying a polite, verbal interest, had really little or no enthusiasm in propagating, promoting or selling such varieties.
It soon becale obvious that the real profir in the fruit tree nursery business is the new superior strains and varieties wich an individual nursery can maintain and promote on an exclusive basis and sell at premium prices and we had no way to limit the distribution of our scab immune varieties.
Nurserymen were unwilling to invest considerbale money to promote a new variety if every other nursery could then take advantage of the demand and offer the same variety at e raduced price without expending promotional costs.
The only logical advantage of the patent protection.
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