[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5104 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5104

  To amend the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to limit intellectual 
        property protection for plants, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2026

  Ms. Warren (for herself, Mr. Booker, and Mr. Welch) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to limit intellectual 
        property protection for plants, 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 ``Fair Seeds for Farmers Act''.

SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION FOR PLANTS.

    (a) In General.--The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Public Law 
112-29; 125 Stat. 284) is amended--
            (1) in section 33 (35 U.S.C. 101 note; Public Law 112-29), 
        in the section heading, by inserting before the period at the 
        end the following: ``for human organisms''; and
            (2) by inserting after section 33 (35 U.S.C. 101 note; 
        Public Law 112-29) the following:

``SEC. 33A. LIMITATION ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROTECTION FOR PLANTS.

    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Germplasm.--The term `germplasm' means plant material 
        capable of propagation, including seeds, pollen, tubers, or 
        rootstock for use in breeding, conservation, or research.
            ``(2) Plant variety.--The term `plant variety'--
                    ``(A) means a plant grouping within a single 
                botanical taxon of the lowest known rank that can be 
                defined by the expression of the characteristics 
                resulting from a given genotype or combination of 
                genotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping 
                by the expression of at least 1 characteristic and 
                considered as a unit with regard to the suitability of 
                the plant grouping for being propagated unchanged; and
                    ``(B) may be represented by seed, transplants, 
                plants, tubers, tissue culture plantlets, or other 
                matter.
    ``(b) Limitation.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        law--
                    ``(A) no protection may be provided under any 
                Federal law with respect to a plant, plant variety, or 
                plant germplasm, except pursuant to a law described in 
                subsection (c); and
                    ``(B) no contractual obligation or agreement that 
                may be allowable under a law described in subsection 
                (c) that limits the use of a plant, plant variety, 
                plant germplasm, or other biological material for 
                research, breeding, experimentation, seed saving, or 
                propagation may be enforced.
            ``(2) Application.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Paragraph (1) shall apply to--
                            ``(i) any application for a patent that is 
                        pending on, or filed on or after, the date of 
                        enactment of this section; and
                            ``(ii) any contractual obligation or 
                        agreement entered into on or after the date of 
                        enactment of this section.
                    ``(B) Prior applications.--Paragraph (1) shall not 
                affect the validity of any patent issued on an 
                application to which subparagraph (A) does not apply.
    ``(c) Laws Described.--The laws described in this subsection are 
the following:
            ``(1) The Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et 
        seq.).
            ``(2) Chapter 15 of title 35, United States Code (commonly 
        known as the `Plant Patent Act of 1930').''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents in section 1(b) of 
the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Public Law 112-29) is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to section 33 the following:

``Sec. 33A. Limitation on intellectual property protection for 
                            plants.''.
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