Sure, it does. The U.S. Patent Office doesn't seem to think so. It did something very similar recently when it apparently granted patent rights for harvesting broccoli sprouts to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, and a private company. The company is telling others who grow broccoli sprouts that they will have to be approved and licensed to continue in business.
Truth is, being a sprout requires no help from anyone.
U.S. law specifies that no one can patent the natural life cycle of living things. Yet, somehow, in this case, the government appears to have given exclusive rights to harvest a plant at a particular stage in its life cycle simply because the now patent holder recognized the natural, already existing nutritional value of that stage of growth. That should not be allowed. The International Sprout Growers Association, Amherst, Mass., is mounting a legal challenge to the patent and has hope the rest of the produce industry and agriculture will help. This would be a good time for the industry to watch the issue, stay informed and be sure its concerns are heard in what seems to be a patently silly result of the Patent Office's ignorance of plant growth.