Those in the field of plant science and plant research including plant breeders, research scientists, and managers, know of the amazing complexity and beauty of plant biology and plant products. Plant-based inventions can be very valuable, and it is important to determine the best options to protect these inventions.

In the US there are several ways to provide intellectual property protection for a plant-based invention. The “Utility Patent” can be used to protect a wide variety of plant-related inventions, such as plant genes, transgenic plants, mutants, promoters, plant transformation methods, plant varieties and hybrids, assay methods, breeding methods, isolation methods, processing methods, biofuel production methods, packaging methods, harvesting methods, and the like.

Plant Patents provide protection for asexually propagated plant varieties. Plant Variety Protection Certificates provide protection for seed-propagated plants.

In many situations, it is prudent to use more than one intellectual property protection option in order to adequately protect your invention. For example, a transgenic plant can be protected with one or more utility patents along with license agreements and restrictive use wording.

One should also be aware that the intellectual property laws for protecting plant-based inventions vary from country to country, and the intellectual property laws in foreign countries can be quite different than the laws in the U.S. Further, the intellectual property landscape for plant-based inventions in many foreign countries is still in the initial stages of being formed, so changes can occur rapidly. Our firm has extensive experience with plant protection in the U.S. and countries all around the world. Our firm has earned its reputation based on the extensive training and experience, both scientific and legal, of its professional staff.

Our firm has broad and extensive expertise in plant biology and plant sciences. Our practitioners, in addition to having advanced scientific degrees, have experience in plant cell biology, plant molecular biology, plant biochemistry, plant stress responses, algae-based biofuels, plant-based biofuels, plant breeding methods, genetics, plant genetic engineering, seed technology, plant-based nutraceuticals, plant-based food ingredients, and plant pathology.

We also have real-life experience in the plant biotechnology industry and in plant and biology research laboratories, in addition to our experience in patent law. Therefore, we are better able to guide you in the intellectual property protection process.

Useful links:

• United States Patent and Trademark Office Patent Search page
  (from here, you can search for a patented plant variety by title, by patent number, company name, etc.)
• International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV)
• Database of Plant Variety Protection Office’s database of Certificates for new plant varieties