§ 2401. Definitions and rules of construction

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

1. 1970

   Pub. L. 91–577 title II § 41 · 84 Stat. 1542

   Enacted · 7 U.S.C. § 2401

   Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 41, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1546

   Source evidence

   Code source credit
   Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 41, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1546

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   Sec. 41. Definitions and Rules of Construction. The definitions and rules of construction set forth in this section apply for the purposes of this Act. (a) The term “novel variety” may be represented by, without limitation, seed, transplants, and plants, and is satisfied if there is: (1) Distinctness in the sense that the variety clearly differs by one or more identifiable morphological, physiological or other characteristics (which may include those evidenced by processing or product characteristics,’ for example, milling and baking characteristics in the case of wheat) as to which a difference in genealogy may contribute evidence, from all prior varieties of public knowledge at the date of determination within the provisions of section 42; and (2) Uniformity in the sense that any variations are describable, predictable and commercially acceptable; and (3) Stability in the sense that the variety, when sexually reproduced or reconstituted, will remain unchanged with regard to its essential and distinctive characteristics with a reasonable degree of reliability commensurate with that of varieties of the same category in which the same breeding method is employed. (b) The terms “United States” and “this country” means the United States of America, its territories and possessions, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. (c) The term “kind” means one or more related species or subspecies singly or collectively known by one common name, for example, soybean, flax, or radish. (d) The term “date of determination” means the date when there has been at least tentative determination that the variety has been sexually reproduced with recognized characteristics, whether or not the novelty of those characteristics has been determined. (e) The term “breeder” shall mean the person who— (1) directs the final breeding creating the novel variety, or (2) discovers the novel variety, and makes the tentative determination described in subsection (d). Where such actions are conducted by an agent on behalf of his principal, the principal, rather than the agent, shall be considered the breeder. The terms “breed”, “develop”, “originate”, and “discover”, and derivatives thereof shall each include the other. (f) The term “sexually reproduced” shall include any production of a variety by seed. (g) The term “basic seed” means the seed planted to produce certified or commercial seed. (h) The term “testing” means testing or experimental use of a variety before any sale thereof. Sale for other than seed purposes of seed or other plant material produced as the result of testing shall not constitute a sale for the purpose of the preceding sentence or for the purpose of the following subsection. (i) The term “public variety” means a variety sold or used in this country, or existing in and publicly known in this country; but use for the purpose of testing, or sale or use as individual plants not known to he sexually reproducible, shall not make the variety a public variety. (j) A variety described in a publication as specified in section 42(a)(1)(B) is “effectively available to workers in this country” if a source from which it can be purchased is indicated in such publication or readily determinable or if such publication teaches how to produce the variety from source-material effectively available to workers in this country.

2. 1994

   Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments of 1994

   Pub. L. 103–349 § 2 · 108 Stat. 3136

   1. Amended · 7 U.S.C. § 2401

      Pub. L. 103–349 amended section generally

   2. Substituted · 7 U.S.C. § 2401

      Pub. L. 103–349 substituting provisions consisting of subsecs. (a) and (b) for former provisions consisting of subsecs. (a) to (j)

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Pub. L. 103–349 amended section generally, substituting provisions consisting of subsecs. (a) and (b) for former provisions consisting of subsecs. (a) to (j).

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION. Section 41 (7 U.S.C. 2401) is amended to read as follows: “§41. Definitions and rules of construction “(a) Definitions.— As used in this Act: “(1) Basic seed.— The term ‘basic seed’ means the seed planted to produce certified or commercial seed. “(2) Breeder.— The term ‘breeder’ means the person who directs the final breeding creating a variety or who discovers and develops a variety. If the actions are conducted by an agent on behalf of a principal, the principal, rather than the agent, shall be considered the breeder. The term does not include a person who redevelops or rediscovers a variety the existence of which is publicly known or a matter of common knowledge. “(3) Essentially derived variety.— “(A) In general.— The term ‘essentially derived variety’ means a variety that— “(i) is predominantly derived from another variety (referred to in this paragraph as the ‘initial variety’) or from a variety that is predominantly derived from the initial variety, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety; “(ii) is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety; and “(iii) except for differences that result from the act of derivation, conforms to the initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety. “(B) Methods.— An essentially derived variety may be obtained by the selection of a natural or induced mutant or of a somaclonal variant, the selection of a variant individual from plants of the initial variety, backcrossing, transformation by genetic engineering, or other method. “(4) Kind.— The term ‘kind’ means one or more related species or subspecies singly or collectively known by one common name, such as soybean, flax, or radish. “(5) Seed.— The term ‘seed’, with respect to a tuber propagated variety, means the tuber or the part of the tuber used for propagation. “(6) Sexually reproduced.— The term ‘sexually reproduced’ includes any production of a variety by seed, but does not include the production of a variety by tuber propagation. “(7) Tuber propagated.— The term ‘tuber propagated’ means propagated by a tuber or a part of a tuber. “(8) United states.— The terms United States’ and ‘this country’ mean the United States, the territories and possessions of the United States, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. “(9) Variety.— The term ‘variety means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, that, without regard to whether the conditions for plant variety protection are fully met, can be defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one characteristic and considered as a unit with regard to the suitability of the plant grouping for being propagated unchanged. A variety may be represented by seed, transplants, plants, tubers, tissue culture plantlets, and other matter. “(b) Rules of Construction.— For the purposes of this Act: “(1) Sale or disposition for nonreproductive purposes.— The sale or disposition, for other than reproductive purposes, of harvested material produced as a result of experimentation or testing of a variety to ascertain the characteristics of the variety, or as a by-product of increasing a variety, shall not be considered to be a sale or disposition for purposes of exploitation of the variety. “(2) Sale or disposition for reproductive purposes.— The sale or disposition of a variety for reproductive purposes shall not be considered to be a sale or disposition for the purposes of exploitation of the variety if the sale or disposition is done as an integral part of a program of experimentation or testing to ascertain the characteristics of the variety, or to increase the variety on behalf of the breeder or the successor in interest of the breeder. “(3) Sale or disposition of hybrid seed.— The sale or disposition of hybrid seed shall be considered to be a sale or disposition of harvested material of the varieties from which the seed was produced. “(4) Application for protection or entering into a register OF varieties.— The filing of an application for the protection or for the entering of a variety in an official register of varieties, in any country, shall be considered to render the variety a matter of common knowledge from the date of the application, if the application leads to the granting of protection or to the entering of the variety in the official register of varieties, as the case may be. “(5) Distinctness.— The distinctness of one variety from another may be based on one or more identifiable morphological, physiological, or other characteristics (including any characteristics evidenced by processing or product characteristics, such as milling and baking characteristics in the case of wheat) with respect to which a difference in genealogy may contribute evidence. “(6) Publicly known varieties.— “(A) In general.— A variety that is adequately described by a publication reasonably considered to be a part of the public technical knowledge in the United States shall be considered to be publicly known and a matter of common knowledge. “(B) Description.— A description that meets the requirements of subparagraph (A) shall include a disclosure of the principal characteristics by which a variety is distinguished. “(C) Other means.— A variety may become publicly known and a matter of common knowledge by other means.”.

   Effective date note
   Pub. L. 103–349, § 15, Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3145, provided that: “This Act [amending this section and sections 2327, 2330, 2353, 2354, 2357, 2402, 2404, 2422, 2423, 2424, 2425, 2442, 2461, 2462, 2463, 2482, 2483, 2486, 2501, 2504, 2532, 2541, 2542, 2543, 2561, 2566, 2567, 2568, and 2570 of this title, repealing sections 2463, 2502 and 2503 of this title, and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 2321 of this title] and the amendments made by this Act shall become effective 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Oct. 6, 1994].”

3. 2018

   Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018

   Pub. L. 115–334 title X § 10108(a) · 132 Stat. 4490

   1. Added · 7 U.S.C. § 2401(a)

      Pub. L. 115–334 added par. (1)

   2. Redesignated · 7 U.S.C. § 2401(a)

      Pub. L. 115–334 redesignated former pars. (1) to (9) as (2) to (10), respectively

   Source evidence

   Code amendment note
   Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–334 added par. (1) and redesignated former pars. (1) to (9) as (2) to (10), respectively.

   Enacted provision · exact public law section
   (a) Asexually Reproduced Defined.— Section 41(a) of the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2401(a)) is amended— (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), and (9) as paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), and (10), respectively; and (2) by inserting before paragraph (2), as so redesignated, the following new paragraph: “(1) Asexually reproduced.— The term ‘asexually reproduced’ means produced by a method of plant propagation using vegetative material (other than seed) from a single parent, including cuttings, grafting, tissue culture, and propagation by root division.” .

5 of 5 references resolved to an enrolled provision