Union Calendar No. 381
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2927
[Report No. 103–699]
A BILL
To amend the Plant Variety Protection Act to
make such Act consistent with the International
Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of
Plants of March 19, 1991, to which the United
States is a signatory, and for other purposes.
AUGUST 12, 1994
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Commit-
tee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and
ordered to be printed
IB
Union Calendar No. 381
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 2927
[Report No. 103–699]
To amend the Plant Variety Protection Act to make such Act consistent
with the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties
of Plants of March 19, 1991, to which the United States is a signatory,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 6, 1994
Mr. DE LA GARZA (for himself, Mr. ROBERTS, and Mr. BROWN of California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Agriculture
AUGUST 12, 1994
Additional sponsors: Mr. KOPETSKI, Mr. NUSSLE, Mr. LIGHTFOOT, Mr.
JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. BAKER of California, Mr. UPTON, Mr.
BAESLER, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. HOEKSTRA, Mr. POSHARD,
Mr. GILLMOR, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. EWING, Mr.
LEWIS of Florida, Mr. GRANDY, Mr. KANJORSKI, Mr. SWIFT, Mr. FARR
of California, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. BEREUTER, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. DOOLEY,
Mr. BARLOW, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. HOAGLAND, and Mrs. VUCANOVICH
AUGUST 12, 1994
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on August 6, 1993]
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A BILL
To amend the Plant Variety Protection Act to make such
Act consistent with the International Convention for the
Protection of New Varieties of Plants of March 19, 1991,
to which the United States is a signatory, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments of 1994’’.
(b) REFERENCES
TO PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION
ACT.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever in
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms of
an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provision,
the reference shall be considered to be made to a section or
other provision of the Plant Variety Protection Act (7
U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.
Section 41 (7 U.S.C. 2401) is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘§ 41. Definitions and rules of construction
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act:
‘‘(1) BASIC SEED.—The term ‘basic seed’ means
the seed planted to produce certified or commercial
seed.
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‘‘(2) BREEDER.—The term ‘breeder’ means the
person who directs the final breeding creating a vari-
ety or who discovers and develops a variety. If the ac-
tions are conducted by an agent on behalf of a prin-
cipal, the principal, rather than the agent, shall be
considered the breeder. The term does not include a
person who redevelops or rediscovers a variety the ex-
istence of which is publicly known or a matter of
common knowledge.
‘‘(3) ESSENTIALLY DERIVED VARIETY.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘essentially
derived variety’ means a variety that—
‘‘(i) is predominantly derived from an-
other variety (referred to in this paragraph
as the ‘initial variety’) or from a variety
that is predominantly derived from the ini-
tial variety, while retaining the expression
of the essential characteristics that result
from the genotype or combination of
genotypes of the initial variety;
‘‘(ii) is clearly distinguishable from the
initial variety; and
‘‘(iii) except for differences that result
from the act of derivation, conforms to the
initial variety in the expression of the es-
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sential characteristics that result from the
genotype or combination of genotypes of the
initial variety.
‘‘(B) METHODS.—An essentially derived va-
riety may be obtained by the selection of a natu-
ral or induced mutant or of a somaclonal vari-
ant, the selection of a variant individual from
plants of the initial variety, backcrossing, trans-
formation by genetic engineering, or other meth-
od.
‘‘(4) KIND.—The term ‘kind’ means one or more
related species or subspecies singly or collectively
known by one common name, such as soybean, flax,
or radish.
‘‘(5) SEED.—The term ‘seed’, with respect to a
tuber propagated variety, means the tuber or the part
of the tuber used for propagation.
‘‘(6) SEXUALLY REPRODUCED.—The term ‘sexu-
ally reproduced’ includes any production of a variety
by seed, but does not include the production of a vari-
ety by tuber propagation.
‘‘(7) TUBER
PROPAGATED.—The term ‘tuber
propagated’ means propagated by a tuber or a part
of a tuber.
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‘‘(8) 
UNITED
STATES.—The 
terms 
‘United
States’ and ‘this country’ mean the United States, the
territories and possessions of the the United States,
and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
‘‘(9) VARIETY.—The term ‘variety’ means a
plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the
lowest known rank, that, without regard to whether
the conditions for plant variety protection are fully
met, can be defined by the expression of the character-
istics resulting from a given genotype or combination
of genotypes, distinguished from any other plant
grouping by the expression of at least one characteris-
tic and considered as a unit with regard to the suit-
ability of the plant grouping for being propagated un-
changed. A variety may be represented by seed, trans-
plants, plants, tubers, tissue culture plantlets, and
other matter.
‘‘(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—For the purposes of
this Act:
‘‘(1) 
SALE
OR
DISPOSITION
FOR
NONREPRODUCTIVE PURPOSES.—The sale or disposi-
tion, for other than reproductive purposes, of har-
vested material produced as a result of experimen-
tation or testing of a variety to ascertain the charac-
teristics of the variety, or as a by-product of increas-
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ing a variety, shall not be considered to be a sale or
disposition for purposes of exploitation of the variety.
‘‘(2) SALE OR DISPOSITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE
PURPOSES.—The sale or disposition of a variety for
reproductive purposes shall not be considered to be a
sale or disposition for the purposes of exploitation of
the variety if the sale or disposition is done as an in-
tegral part of a program of experimentation or test-
ing to ascertain the characteristics of the variety, or
to increase the variety on behalf of the breeder or the
successor in interest of the breeder.
‘‘(3) SALE OR DISPOSITION OF HYBRID SEED.—
The sale or disposition of hybrid seed shall be consid-
ered to be a sale or disposition of harvested material
of the varieties from which the seed was produced.
‘‘(4) APPLICATION FOR PROTECTION OR ENTER-
ING INTO A REGISTER OF VARIETIES.—The filing of
an application for the protection or for the entering
of a variety in an official register of varieties, in any
country, shall be considered to render the variety a
matter of common knowledge from the date of the ap-
plication, if the application leads to the granting of
protection or to the entering of the variety in the offi-
cial register of varieties, as the case may be.
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‘‘(5) DISTINCTNESS.—The distinctness of one va-
riety from another may be based on one or more iden-
tifiable morphological, physiological, or other charac-
teristics (including any characteristics evidenced by
processing or product characteristics, such as milling
and baking characteristics in the case of wheat) with
respect to which a difference in genealogy may con-
tribute evidence.
‘‘(6) PUBLICLY KNOWN VARIETIES.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A variety that is ade-
quately described by a publication reasonably
considered to be a part of the public technical
knowledge in the United States shall be consid-
ered to be publicly known and a matter of com-
mon knowledge.
‘‘(B) DESCRIPTION.—A description that
meets the requirements of subparagraph (A) shall
include a disclosure of the principal characteris-
tics by which a variety is distinguished.
‘‘(C) OTHER MEANS.—A variety may be-
come publicly known and a matter of common
knowledge by other means.’’.
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SEC. 3. RIGHT TO PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION; PLANT VA-
RIETIES PROTECTABLE.
Section 42 (7 U.S.C. 2402) is amended to read as fol-
lows:
‘‘§ 42. Right to plant variety protection; plant varieties
protectable
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The breeder of any sexually repro-
duced or tuber propagated plant variety (other than fungi
or bacteria) who has so reproduced the variety, or the suc-
cessor in interest of the breeder, shall be entitled to plant
variety protection for the variety, subject to the conditions
and requirements of this Act, if the variety is—
‘‘(1) new, in the sense that, on the date of filing
of the application for plant variety protection, propa-
gating or harvested material of the variety has not
been sold or otherwise disposed of to other persons, by
or with the consent of the breeder, or the successor in
interest of the breeder, for purposes of exploitation of
the variety—
‘‘(A) in the United States, more than 1 year
prior to the date of filing; or
‘‘(B) in any area outside of the United
States—
‘‘(i) more than 4 years prior to the
date of filing; or
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‘‘(ii) in the case of a tree or vine, more
than 6 years prior to the date of filing;
‘‘(2) distinct, in the sense that the variety is
clearly distinguishable from any other variety the ex-
istence of which is publicly known or a matter of
common knowledge at the time of the filing of the ap-
plication;
‘‘(3) uniform, in the sense that any variations
are describable, predictable, and commercially accept-
able; and
‘‘(4) stable, in the sense that the variety, when
reproduced, will remain unchanged with regard to the
essential and distinctive characteristics of the variety
with a reasonable degree of reliability commensurate
with that of varieties of the same category in which
the same breeding method is employed.
‘‘(b) MULTIPLE APPLICANTS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If 2 or more applicants sub-
mit applications on the same effective filing date for
varieties that cannot be clearly distinguished from
one another, but that fulfill all other requirements of
subsection (a), the applicant who first complies with
all requirements of this Act shall be entitled to a cer-
tificate of plant variety protection, to the exclusion of
any other applicant.
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‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS
COMPLETED
ON
SAME
DATE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), if 2 or more applicants com-
ply with all requirements for protection on the
same date, a certificate shall be issued for each
variety.
‘‘(B) VARIETIES
INDISTINGUISHABLE.—If
the varieties that are the subject of the applica-
tions cannot be distinguished in any manner, a
single certificate shall be issued jointly to the ap-
plicants.’’.
SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.
Section 52 (7 U.S.C. 2422) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the
following new sentence: ‘‘The variety shall be named
in accordance with regulations issued by the Sec-
retary.’’;
(2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by
striking ‘‘novelty’’ and inserting ‘‘distinctiveness, uni-
formity, and stability’’;
(3) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as
paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively;
(4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow-
ing new paragraph:
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jection or withdrawal, to be determined by the
Secretary.
‘‘(B) An event occurring within the period of
priority (such as the filing of another application or
use of the variety that is the subject of the first appli-
cation) shall not constitute a ground for rejecting the
application or give rise to any third party right.’’.
SEC. 6. NOTICE OF REFUSAL; RECONSIDERATION.
The first sentence of section 62(b) (7 U.S.C. 2442(b))
is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘six months’’ and inserting ‘‘at
least 30 days, and not more than 180 days’’; and
(2) by striking ‘‘in exceptional circumstances’’.
SEC. 7. CONTENTS AND TERM OF PLANT VARIETY PROTEC-
TION.
Section 83 (7 U.S.C. 2483) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by designating the first through fourth
sentences as paragraphs (1) through (4), respec-
tively; and
(B) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) (as
so designated) and inserting the following new
paragraphs:
‘‘(2) If the owner so elects, the certificate shall—
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‘‘(A) specify that seed of the variety shall be
sold in the United States only as a class of cer-
tified seed; and
‘‘(B) if so specified, conform to the number
of generations designated by the owner.
‘‘(3) An owner may waive a right provided
under this subsection, other than a right that is elect-
ed by the owner under paragraph (2)(A).’’;
(2) in the first sentence of subsection (b)—
(A) by striking ‘‘eighteen’’ and inserting
‘‘20’’; and
(B) by inserting before the period at the end
the following: ‘‘, except that, in the case of a tree
or vine, the term of the plant variety protection
shall expire 25 years from the date of issue of the
certificate’’; and
(3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘repository:
Provided, however, That’’ and inserting ‘‘repository,
or requiring the submission of a different name for
the variety, except that’’.
SEC. 8. PRIORITY CONTEST.
(a) PRIORITY CONTEST; EFFECT OF ADVERSE FINAL
JUDGMENT OR INACTION.—Sections 92 and 93 (7 U.S.C.
2502 and 2503) are repealed.
(b) INTERFERING PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION.—
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(1) REDESIGNATION.—Section 94 of the Act (7
U.S.C. 2504) is redesignated a section 92.
(2) AMENDMENTS.—Section 92 (as so redesig-
nated) is amended—
(A) by striking ‘‘The owner’’ and inserting
‘‘(a) The owner’’; and
(B) by striking the second sentence.
(c) APPEAL OR CIVIL ACTION IN CONTESTED CASES.—
(1) TRANSFER.—Section 73 (7 U.S.C. 2463) is
amended by transferring subsection (b) to the end of
section 92 (as redesignated by subsection (b)(1)).
(2) REPEAL.—Section 73 (as amended by para-
graph (1)) is repealed.
(d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
(1) Section 71 (7 U.S.C. 2461) is amended by
striking ‘‘92,’’.
(2) Section 102 (7 U.S.C. 2532) is amended by
inserting ‘‘or tuber propagable’’ after ‘‘sexually repro-
ducible’’ each place it appears.
SEC. 9. INFRINGEMENT OF PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION.
Section 111 (7 U.S.C. 2541) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a)—
(A) by striking ‘‘novel’’ the first two places
it appears and inserting ‘‘protected’’;
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(B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the
novel’’ and inserting ‘‘or market the protected’’;
(C) by striking ‘‘novel’’ each place it ap-
pears in paragraphs (2) through (7);
(D) in paragraph (3), by inserting ’’, or
propagate by a tuber or a part of a tuber,’’ after
‘‘sexually multiply’’;
(E) by striking ‘‘or’’ each place it appears
at the end of paragraphs (3) through (6);
(F) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and
(8) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively; and
(G) by inserting after paragraph (6) the fol-
lowing new paragraphs:
‘‘(7) condition the variety for the purpose of
propagation, except to the extent that the conditioning
is related to the activities permitted under section
113;
‘‘(8) stock the variety for any of the purposes re-
ferred to in paragraphs (1) through (7);’’;
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection
(f); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (a) the following
new subsections:
‘‘(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the owner of a pro-
tected variety may authorize the use of the variety under
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this section subject to conditions and limitations specified
by the owner.
‘‘(2) In the case of a contract between a seed producer
and the owner of a protected variety of lawn, turf, or forage
grass seed, or alfalfa or clover seed for the production of
seed of the protected variety, the producer shall be deemed
to be authorized by the owner to sell such seed and to use
the variety if—
‘‘(A) the producer has fulfilled the terms of the
contract;
‘‘(B) the owner refuses to take delivery of the seed
or refuses to pay any amounts due under the contract
within 30 days of the payment date specified in the
contract; and
‘‘(C) after the expiration of the period specified
in subparagraph (B), the producer notifies the owner
of the producer’s intent to sell the seed and unless the
owner fails to pay the amounts due under the con-
tract and take delivery of the seed within 30 days of
such notification. For the purposes of this paragraph,
the term ‘owner’ shall include any licensee of the
owner.
‘‘(3) Paragraph (2) shall apply to contracts entered
into with respect to plant varieties protected under this Act
(7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.) as in effect on the day before the