When a company name is not part of the variety name, it should not be used in any way that gives the idea that it is part of the variety name. The simplest way to avoid confusion is to separate the company and variety names in advertising or labeling. Although USDA discourages it, you may use descriptive terms in variety names as long as such terms are not misleading. A variety name should be clearly different in spelling and in sound. Hybrid designations, whether they are names or numbers, also are variety names.
Every rule discussed here applies to hybrid seed as well as to nonhybrid seed.
In the case of hybrids, however, the situation is potentially more complex since more than one seed producer or company might use identical parent lines in producing a hybrid variety. One company could then produce a hybrid that was the same as one already introduced by another firm. When this happens, both firms must use the same name since they are marketing the same variety. If the people who developed the parent lines have given the hybrid variety a name, that is the legal name. Otherwise, the proper name would be the one given by the company that first introduced the hybrid seed into commerce.