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This is incredible! > Can I propagate or breed the Firefly Petunias? Our Firefly Petunias are protected under patent, and as such, propagation and breeding are

This is incredible! > Can I propagate or breed the Firefly Petunias? Our Firefly Petunias are protected under patent, and as such, propagation and breeding are not permitted. These petunias are sold exclusively for personal use. Good luck to them with that. If these plants in real life are anything like in the videos, they will be grown and sold world wide in massive amounts and nobody will give a hoot about some patent.

yareal 3y ago
[dead]
Crespyl 3y ago
I'm sure if someone opened a commercial scale operation, at least in the US, they'd be able to sue, but you're right that as soon as it goes worldwide there's no practical way to prevent "piracy". It'll be interesting to see if/how they try to lock it down genetically, I think it's possible to make the plants unable to produce seeds, but propagation is trickier. Monsanto might have some tips for them.
- labster 3y ago
  What if someone inserted the gene in a human embryo, but didn’t pay the royalty? Would the pregnancy have to be aborted to protect the IP, or would it be enough to cease and desist future distribution of the gene via castration? I mean it sounds harsh but the parent did violate intellectual property law.
  - p1mrx 3y ago
    IP schipey, I want my lumen-man!
  - hugryhoop 3y ago
    Human rights have priority over IP rights.
    - echelon 3y ago
      There's a photographer suing a tattoo artist over this right now. The outcome will be interesting.
      - yreg 3y ago
        But I'm sure they are not proposing killing off the tattooed person.
        labster 3y ago
        No, but the verdict could have cost an arm and a leg. @GP: Yes, but what does the law say about transhuman rights? At what point has one added/removed things that they’re no longer a natural person?
      - dekhn 3y ago
        the photographer already lost.
UncleOxidant 3y ago
It seems likely that the seeds you get from these plants won't produce plants that have the same characteristics as the parents.
- bear141 3y ago
  Cloning is very easy.
- alexose 3y ago
  What about tissue culture?
slimsag 3y ago
Patents are a major PITA even in home gardening and small-scale nurseries. People have to respect the patents because a lot of plant sales are online these days, through Etsy and stuff, and the company will sue the ever living shit out of you if they find out you are selling them, especially on any meaningful scale. Some of the best tomato seed varieties are often patented, e.g. F1 hybrid sungold tomatoes (though reproducing those is also annoying because they are a hybrid and people generally want seeds.) There are groups[0] which try to make varieties as heirlooms (i.e. collect-and-plant) seeds that are copyleft licensed[0]. For another interesting example of recent plant developments, Norfolk Plant Sciences developed purple tomatoes and recently began selling seeds of them. Unlike other purple tomatoes (of which there are only a few) these have purple meat inside, incorporating a gene from snapdragon flowers, which also keeps the tomatoes good longer. They are patented, $20 for just 10 seeds. Another small company, Baker Creek’s “Purple Galaxy” tomatoes, has been suspected of re-selling Norfolk's purple tomato seeds and recently stopped selling them due to 'low stock' (suspected cease-and-desist) - as a minor controversy in the gardening community last week, though allegedly Baker's Creek is a white nationalist group so YMMV on whose side you want to take there. Anyway, plants are fun! [0] https://osseeds.org/ https://osseeds.org/
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  Outside the US neither individuals or companies care about patents when it comes to these kind of things. Sure, maybe a nation's largest plant company will respect the patents, but the local plant store won't. And they are almost the whole market.
- nkurz 3y ago
  > Another small company, Baker Creek’s “Purple Galaxy” tomatoes, has been suspected of re-selling Norfolk's purple tomato seeds and recently stopped selling them due to 'low stock' (suspected cease-and-desist) I'm familiar with this, but it sounds like you might know more details. Do you really mean "re-selling"? I'd presumed that the accusation was that they were planning to sell a cross-bred plant that involved genes from the patented variety, but my search attempts on the tomato forums weren't very successful. Is there a better "inside scoop" story out there to be found or is it all guesswork at this point?

yareal 3y ago

[dead]

Crespyl 3y ago

I'm sure if someone opened a commercial scale operation, at least in the US, they'd be able to sue, but you're right that as soon as it goes worldwide there's no practical way to prevent "piracy". It'll be interesting to see if/how they try to lock it down genetically, I think it's possible to make the plants unable to produce seeds, but propagation is trickier. Monsanto might have some tips for them.

labster 3y ago
What if someone inserted the gene in a human embryo, but didn’t pay the royalty? Would the pregnancy have to be aborted to protect the IP, or would it be enough to cease and desist future distribution of the gene via castration? I mean it sounds harsh but the parent did violate intellectual property law.
- p1mrx 3y ago
  IP schipey, I want my lumen-man!
- hugryhoop 3y ago
  Human rights have priority over IP rights.
  - echelon 3y ago
    There's a photographer suing a tattoo artist over this right now. The outcome will be interesting.
    - yreg 3y ago
      But I'm sure they are not proposing killing off the tattooed person.
      - labster 3y ago
        No, but the verdict could have cost an arm and a leg. @GP: Yes, but what does the law say about transhuman rights? At what point has one added/removed things that they’re no longer a natural person?
    - dekhn 3y ago
      the photographer already lost.

UncleOxidant 3y ago

It seems likely that the seeds you get from these plants won't produce plants that have the same characteristics as the parents.

bear141 3y ago
Cloning is very easy.
alexose 3y ago
What about tissue culture?

slimsag 3y ago

Patents are a major PITA even in home gardening and small-scale nurseries. People have to respect the patents because a lot of plant sales are online these days, through Etsy and stuff, and the company will sue the ever living shit out of you if they find out you are selling them, especially on any meaningful scale. Some of the best tomato seed varieties are often patented, e.g. F1 hybrid sungold tomatoes (though reproducing those is also annoying because they are a hybrid and people generally want seeds.) There are groups[0] which try to make varieties as heirlooms (i.e. collect-and-plant) seeds that are copyleft licensed[0]. For another interesting example of recent plant developments, Norfolk Plant Sciences developed purple tomatoes and recently began selling seeds of them. Unlike other purple tomatoes (of which there are only a few) these have purple meat inside, incorporating a gene from snapdragon flowers, which also keeps the tomatoes good longer. They are patented, $20 for just 10 seeds. Another small company, Baker Creek’s “Purple Galaxy” tomatoes, has been suspected of re-selling Norfolk's purple tomato seeds and recently stopped selling them due to 'low stock' (suspected cease-and-desist) - as a minor controversy in the gardening community last week, though allegedly Baker's Creek is a white nationalist group so YMMV on whose side you want to take there. Anyway, plants are fun! [0] https://osseeds.org/ https://osseeds.org/

carlosjobim 3y ago
Outside the US neither individuals or companies care about patents when it comes to these kind of things. Sure, maybe a nation's largest plant company will respect the patents, but the local plant store won't. And they are almost the whole market.
nkurz 3y ago
> Another small company, Baker Creek’s “Purple Galaxy” tomatoes, has been suspected of re-selling Norfolk's purple tomato seeds and recently stopped selling them due to 'low stock' (suspected cease-and-desist) I'm familiar with this, but it sounds like you might know more details. Do you really mean "re-selling"? I'd presumed that the accusation was that they were planning to sell a cross-bred plant that involved genes from the patented variety, but my search attempts on the tomato forums weren't very successful. Is there a better "inside scoop" story out there to be found or is it all guesswork at this point?