Re: Plant Variety Rights

Peter Cole (carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk)
Sat, 12 Oct 1996 10:29:10 GMT

dave evans <T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU> writes:
...
> case you are you talking about? With most CPs is near impossible
> to isolate a good culture from the living plant tissues since they
...

Nepenthes certainly, Sarraceniaceae possibly to varying degrees, but
Dionaea, many Drosera, Utrics and Pings are very easy, and even
Cephalotus aren't impossible in a domestic setting.
It's all too easy for industrial tissue culture "factories" to churn
out millions of TC'd plants in a very short time - the Garden Centres
of Europe (and probably further afield too,) are full of Dutch clones
of all manner of plants including CPs.
I do believe there should be protection for breeders hard work and
often not inconsiderable investment in developing new hybrids/
varieties/whatever, but the "Royal Red" saga is taking it way too
far. Having said that, if I had excess red-petioled Dionaea (which
I don't,) I wouldn't hesitate to trade them - it wouldn't conceivably
be worth their while to sue hobby growers on the other side of the
world on what would be very shaky legal ground indeed (ie: the onus
of proof would be on them to show that my plants were "Royal Red"
clones, which of course they aren't.)

Happy growing,

Peter

Obobservation: One adult VFT can theoretically produce over 1,000,000 plants
by micropropagation within 12 months!

snail:Peter Cole,17 Wimmerfield Cr. :mailto:carnivor@bunyip.demon.co.uk
Killay, SWANSEA SA2 7BU, WALES :http://www.angel.co.uk/flytrap/index.htm
vox:+44 1792 205214 :Tissue Culture Kits for sale