H. R. 1197
One Hundred Fifth Congress
of the
United States of America
AT THE SECOND SESSION
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the twenty-seventh day of January, one thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight
An Act
To amend title 35, United States Code, to protect patent owners against the
unauthorized sale of plant parts taken from plants illegally reproduced, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Plant Patent Amendments Act
of 1998’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The protection provided by plant patents under title
35, United States Code, dating back to 1930, has historically
benefited American agriculture and horticulture and the public
by providing an incentive for breeders to develop new plant
varieties.
(2) Domestic and foreign agricultural trade is rapidly
expanding and is very different from the trade of the past.
An unforeseen ambiguity in the provisions of title 35, United
States Code, is undermining the orderly collection of royalties
due breeders holding United States plant patents.
(3) Plant parts produced from plants protected by United
States plant patents are being taken from illegally reproduced
plants and traded in United States markets to the detriment
of plant patent holders.
(4) Resulting lost royalty income inhibits investment in
domestic research and breeding activities associated with a
wide variety of crops—an area where the United States has
historically enjoyed a strong international position. Such
research is the foundation of a strong horticultural industry.
(5) Infringers producing such plant parts from unauthorized
plants enjoy an unfair competitive advantage over producers
who pay royalties on varieties protected by United States plant
patents.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to clearly and explicitly provide that title 35, United
States Code, protects the owner of a plant patent against the
unauthorized sale of plant parts taken from plants illegally
reproduced;
(2) to make the protections provided under such title more
consistent with those provided breeders of sexually reproduced
plants under the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321
H. R. 1197—2
et seq.), as amended by the Plant Variety Protection Act Amend-
ments of 1994 (Public Law 103–349); and
(3) to strengthen the ability of United States plant patent
holders to enforce their patent rights with regard to importation
of plant parts produced from plants protected by United States
plant patents, which are propagated without the authorization
of the patent holder.
SEC. 3. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 35, UNITED STATES CODE.
(a) RIGHTS IN PLANT PATENTS.—Section 163 of title 35, United
States Code, is amended to read as follows:
‘‘§ 163. Grant
‘‘In the case of a plant patent, the grant shall include the
right to exclude others from asexually reproducing the plant, and
from using, offering for sale, or selling the plant so reproduced,
or any of its parts, throughout the United States, or from importing
the plant so reproduced, or any parts thereof, into the United
States.’’.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by subsection (a)
shall apply to any plant patent issued on or after the date of
the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC PATENT INFORMATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The United States Patent and Trademark
Office shall develop and implement statewide computer networks
with remote library sites in requesting rural States such that citi-
zens in those States will have enhanced access to information
in their State’s patent and trademark depository library.
(b) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘rural States’’ means
the States that qualified on January 1, 1997, as rural States under
section 1501(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 379bb(b)).
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.