Opinion ID: 787574
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Zary Application

Text: 4 In March 1995, Dr. Keith Zary filed a PBR application in South Africa that claimed a variety of rose plant named JACopper, a cross between two other rose varieties. The application was published in April of that same year, and it listed information concerning how the breeder, as well as the breeder's South African agent, could be contacted. The JACopper plant was thereafter sold in South Africa and Zambia as early as October 1996. 5 In March 1999, Zary filed a plant patent application at the PTO claiming the JACopper rose plant. The examiner issued a rejection under § 102(b), stating that the published PBR application was a printed publication that enabled the invention and placed the skilled artisan in possession of the invention because of the public availability of JACopper in South Africa and Zambia. Upon Zary's appeal, the Board affirmed the examiner's rejection, holding that the description of the JACopper plant in a printed publication, combined with the foreign public availability of that plant more than one year before Zary's filing date, constituted a statutory bar. Zary now appeals to this court. 6 We have jurisdiction over both appeals pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(4).