Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) E-News

We are pleased to provide you the latest PVPO E-News. The newsletter provides news 

about the PVPO team, helpful Plant Variety Protection (PVP) tips, and other valuable 

information that we are certain you will find useful. This issue will focus on what determines 

when a variety is “new” and we will provide possible scenarios to illustrate the general rule.

In order to obtain PVP, a variety must be new, distinct, 

uniform, and stable (DUS) and have a name 

(denomination). A new variety is one that hasn’t been 

sold for more than 1 year in the United States (U.S.) or 

more than 4 years outside the U.S. The exception is trees 

or vines, which can’t be sold for more than 6 years 

outside the U.S.

For the purpose of PVP, the “sale clock” starts ticking 

when propagating material (seeds, tubers, cuttings, etc.) 

or harvested material (grain, flowers, lettuce leaves, etc.) 

have been sold with the owner’s permission. Also, if a 

hybrid variety has been sold, the parents that produced 

the hybrid are also considered sold.

There are two exceptions to this general rule:

1) if the variety was transferred/sold to determine 

its unique features. For example a potato 

variety was sold to evaluate chipping quality or 

a tomato variety sold for determining sauce 

processing properties or 

2) if the variety was transferred/sold to increase 

supply. For example, the variety is provided to a 

grower for stock seed production. 

Neither of these would be considered “sold” for 

the purpose of PVP.

To better illustrate, here are some possible scenarios: 

- If 1,000 pounds of soybean variety ‘X’ was sold to 

a grower on November 10, 2015 – this variety 

would be “new” as long as the PVP application is 

filed on or before November 10, 2016. (Rule: 

hasn’t been sold for more than 1 year in the U.S.)

- If 10 pounds of lettuce variety ‘Y’ was sold to a 

French farmer on April 15, 2013 – this variety 

would be “new” as long as the PVP application is 

filed on or before April 15, 2017 in the U.S. (Rule: 

hasn’t been sold more than 4 years outside the 

U.S.)
- If 10,000 pounds of a potato variety was sold to 

farmer Smith in 2013, 2014, 2015 so that the 

variety owner could evaluate three years of fry 

processing quality - this variety would still be a 

new variety in 2016. (Rule exception: the variety 

was transferred/sold to determine its unique 

features)

- If 2 pounds of tomato seed was sold to a seed 

producer on March 20, 2014 and then 20 pounds 

of the seed from the seed producer were sold to 

farm Stevens on April 15, 2015 - this variety would 

be “new” as long as the PVP application was filed 

on or before April 15, 2016. (Rule exception: the 

variety was transferred/sold on March 20, 2014 to 

increase supply).

- If the hybrid tobacco variety ‘BC’ was sold on 

October 15, 2013 - neither of its parents ‘B’ or ‘C’ 

would be “new” on or after October 16, 

2014. (Rule: if a hybrid variety has been sold, the 

parents that produced the hybrid are also 

considered sold.)

We suggest that PVP applicants submit their complete 

PVP applications well before these 1, 4, or 6 year time 

restrictions. For a more detailed explanation, please refer 

to sections 41(b) (1-3) and 42(a) (1) of the Plant Variety 

Protection Act at Plant Variety Protection Act . 

We welcome your suggestions on topics for future newsletters as well as ideas on how we 

can improve our service. Please feel free to contact the PVPO if you have any questions, 

comments, or suggestions.

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Anyone interested in subscribing may do so by visiting: www.ams.usda.gov/PVPO. Click on 

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For more information, please contact:

Plant Variety Protection Office

Science & Technology Program
Agricultural Marketing Service

United States Department of Agriculture

Office: (202) 720-1128

PVPOmail@ams.usda.gov