[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1197 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1197

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 1997

 Mr. Smith of Oregon introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                   to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
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 
1997''.

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 
        and following), as amended by the Plant Variety Protection Act 
        Amendments 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:
``Sec. 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.
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