§ 2504. Interfering plant variety protection

Statutory text

The owner of a certificate of plant variety protection may have relief against another owner of a certificate of the same variety by civil action, and the court may adjudge the question of validity of the respective certificates, or the ownership of the certificate.

Such suit may be instituted against the party in interest as shown by the record of the Plant Variety Protection Office at the time of the decision complained of, but any party in interest may become a party to the action. If there be adverse parties residing in a plurality of districts not embraced within the same State, or an adverse party residing in a foreign country, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or any United States district court to which it may transfer the case, shall have jurisdiction and may issue summons against the adverse parties directed to the marshall of any district in which any adverse party resides. Summons against adverse parties residing in foreign countries may be served by publication or otherwise as the court directs. The Secretary shall not be made a party but the Secretary shall have the right to intervene. Judgment of the court in favor of the right of an applicant to plant variety protection shall authorize the Secretary to issue a certificate of plant variety protection on the filing in the Plant Variety Protection Office of a certified copy of the judgment and on compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

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.

1970
Pub. L. 91–577 title II § 92 · 84 Stat. 1542
Enacted · 7 U.S.C. § 2504
Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 92, formerly § 94, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1553
Source evidence
Code source credit
Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 92, formerly § 94, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1553
Enacted provision · exact public law section
Sec. 92. Priority Contest. (a) If the Secretary determines that two applications of different applicants may be based on the same variety, he may: (1) Initiate a priority contest on his own motion whether or not one of the applications may have been certificated: or (2) Issue a certificate on the application having the earliest effective filing date, with notice to all; or (3) Issue a certificate naming alternative owners, under a single variety name acceptable to both. (b) On request of any person when a certificate has been issued naming another as an owner or alternative owner, both having applied for protection on the same variety, the Secretary shall institute a priority contest, except that any person shall have forfeited his right to assert priority for the purpose of obtaining plant variety protection when an adverse certificate has issued if he jails to make the request within one year of the mailing of notice specified in part (2) above or if he fails to make the request within the period for taking action after refusal of his application on the basis of the adverse certificate.
1994
Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments of 1994
Pub. L. 103–349 § 8(b)(2) · 108 Stat. 3136
1. Amended · 7 U.S.C. § 2504(a)
  Pub. L. 103–349, § 8(b)(2), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a)
2. Struck · 7 U.S.C. § 2504(a)
  Pub. L. 103–349, § 8(b)(2), struck out at end “The provisions of section 2463(b) of this title shall apply to actions brought under this section.”
Source evidence
Code amendment note
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–349, § 8(b)(2), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and struck out at end “The provisions of section 2463(b) of this title shall apply to actions brought under this section.”
Enacted provision · exact public law section
(2) Amendments.— Section 92 (as so redesignated) is amended— (A) by striking “The owner” and inserting “(a) The owner”; and (B) by striking the second sentence.
Effective date note
Amendment by Pub. L. 103–349 effective 180 days after Oct. 6, 1994, see section 15 of Pub. L. 103–349, set out as a note under section 2401 of this title.
1994
Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments of 1994
Pub. L. 103–349 · 108 Stat. 3136
Substituted · 7 U.S.C. § 2504(b)
Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 8(c)(1), 13(p), transferred subsec. (b) of section 2463 of this title to subsec. (b) of this section, and substituted “the Secretary” for “he” before “shall have” in fourth sentence. See Codification note above
Source evidence
Code amendment note
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 8(c)(1), 13(p), transferred subsec. (b) of section 2463 of this title to subsec. (b) of this section, and substituted “the Secretary” for “he” before “shall have” in fourth sentence. See Codification note above.
Effective date note
Amendment by Pub. L. 103–349 effective 180 days after Oct. 6, 1994, see section 15 of Pub. L. 103–349, set out as a note under section 2401 of this title.

3 of 4 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Editorial Notes

Codification

The text of subsec. (b) of section 2463 of this title, which was transferred to subsec. (b) of this section by Pub. L. 103–349, § 8(c)(1), was based on section 73(b) of Pub. L. 91–577, title II, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1550.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 92 of Pub. L. 91–577 was classified to section 2502 of this title prior to repeal by Pub. L. 103–349.

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103–349, § 8(b)(2), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a) and struck out at end “The provisions of section 2463(b) of this title shall apply to actions brought under this section.”

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 8(c)(1), 13(p), transferred subsec. (b) of section 2463 of this title to subsec. (b) of this section, and substituted “the Secretary” for “he” before “shall have” in fourth sentence. See Codification note above.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 103–349 effective 180 days after Oct. 6, 1994, see section 15 of Pub. L. 103–349, set out as a note under section 2401 of this title.

Credits

1970–1994 · 2 acts

1970Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 92, formerly § 94, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1553
1994renumbered § 92 and amended Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 8(b), (c)(1), 13(p), Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3140, 3144.

Show as published

(Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 92, formerly § 94, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1553; renumbered § 92 and amended Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 8(b), (c)(1), 13(p), Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3140, 3144.)