Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998jimmie.turner@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, July 20, 2010 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to developers of 16 new varieties of seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants. They include broccoli, burnet, carrot, coleus, cucumber, forget-me-not, sneezeweed, spinach and watermelon.
The certificates are being issued under the Plant Variety Protection Act. The certificates require that the varieties be new, distinct, uniform and stable. The owners will have the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, import and export their products in the United States for the duration of protection.
The 16 certificates are:
-- the Hopkins variety of broccoli, developed by U.S. Government as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.; & Caudill Seed and Warehouse Company, Inc., Louisville, Ky.;
-- the BRM 53-3904 variety of broccoli, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.;
-- the Persist variety of little burnet, developed by Oregon Wholesale Seed Company, Silverton, Ore.;
-- the RF714911A, RIF714966C, RF714912A, RN714904C, and RN714963C varieties of carrot, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.;
-- the SAKCOL017 variety of coleus, developed by Sakata Seed Corporation, Yokohama, Japan;
-- the APD1475002GY and APD1475007GY varieties of cucumber, developed by Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.;
-- the Mon Amie Blue variety of forget-me-not, developed by Ball Horticultural Company, West Chicago, Ill.;
-- the Dakota Gold variety of annual sneezeweed, developed by Ball Horticultural Company and Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, College Station, Texas;
-- the LSA661041and LSA661044 varieties of spinach, developed by the of Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., Oxnard, Calif.; and
-- the SP-5 variety of watermelon, developed by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Nampa, Idaho.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which provides time-limited marketing protection to developers of new and distinct seed-reproduced and tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers.
For more information, contact the Plant Variety Protection Office at (301) 504-5518, fax (301) 504-5291, or the Internet at www.ams.usda.gov./pvpo.
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