My figure of approximately $AUD $10,000 to establish and to maintain the rose patent in Australia over 20 years, takes into account annual maintenance fees as they currently appear.
Such an investment would seem utterly ridiculous to consider, unless we have some kind of “rose masterpiece” to market.
Ah, I see that I was mistaken. There are no maintenance fees for plant patents.
We are less fortunate here in Australia regarding the fee structure… just another disincentive for us in this part of the world.
Here is a hypothetical question that has been nagging me…
Say someone purchases budwood of a patented variety and buds his own plants for the purposes of breeding (not for selling the budded plants). Does the breeder get royalties from this sale, and if not, then does this activity violate patent law?
Putting it in a different way, does the seller of the budwood give royalties to the breeder from the sale of the budwood. Assume here that the “seller” is a bona fide registered seller of budwoods.
I don’t believe there are any retailers who will sell you budwood of a patented variety for the purposes of propagation. Not in this country, anyway.
Thing is, there is a big supplier of budwood in Australia, but I am now checking with them about this issue…
I suspect you will find they do not offer patented varieties. However, if they do, they are probably reporting sale of these for royalties. In fact, they’d be legally obligated.
I know who you are thinking of George and they are probably THE biggest supplier of budwood in the country and one of the biggest in the world. They supply most of the major growers in the country with budwood and are like a repository for roses from which this budwood can be sourced. I have contacted them in the past to purchase budwood myself and have the catalogue to select my budwood from. However, this is from their website:
“AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE - Thank you for visiting our website and using this facility to find your favourite rose. While we have over 4,000 rose varieties in our garden…” “…we are not a nursery but we are one of the major suppliers of budwood to Australia’s nursery industry. If you see a rose you would like on this database can we suggest you contact one of Australia’s major rose propagators (nurseries) and arrange for them to either supply your requirements from their stock or alternatively they can purchase genetic material from us to fill your order.”
They will recommend you purchase the plants from the propagators who are legally enititled to propagate this material (and if they aren’t they can get the necessary permits). None of the budwood I want to buy (Teas and miniatures) is PBRed so it doesn’t worry me.
Simon, I wonder then if they sold you the budwood because the varieties you sought were not patented? …Does this mean that they they would have directed you to a rose grower to buy any stuff they keep that is patented?
In any case I’ll let you know what they tell me if as soon as I know.
Paul, I am sure you are right also, it makes sense.