UPOV-ROM 2012/04 - International Union for the Protection of New ...

Contents of the UPOV-ROM 2012/04 UNITED STATES – USPTO
http://www.uspto.gov
Applicant’s name
The applicant is the inventor (breeder).
Title holder’s name
The assignee is the title holder.
Type of other party’s name followed by party’s name
This is the patent attorney or agent (if any) who prosecuted the application before the
USPTO. The name of the attorney prosecuting the application before the USPTO is only
provided when the attorney is listed on the document, and the prosecuting attorney may
optionally choose not to have their name listed on the document.
Other useful information
The US information is provided by two government agencies:
• The Plant Variety Protection Office administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which
provides legal protection similar to patents to developers of new varieties of plants
which are sexually reproduced (by seed) or tuber-propagated, by issuing Certificates of
Protection. The data from that office are contained in a separate file;
• The Patent and Trademark Office of the US Department of Commerce administers the
Plant Patent Act, which provides patent protection to asexually reproduced plants.
Among other missions the USPTO grants plant patents to asexually reproduced varieties
which satisfy the legal criteria and delivers official information in its Official Gazette
(O.G.). The USPTO also grants utility patents to plant inventions that may include
varieties, using the same patentability criteria as are applied for determining
patentability of industrial inventions.
USPTO plant patent publications are available on the Internet in both text and image format
at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html. Select either “Patent Number Searching or
“Application Number Searching” and type in the document number you wish to view (e.g.
PP10234 or 2001/0001234). You will have your choice of viewing the full text of
documents published after 1970 or the image of any US plant patent document. Copies of
patent application publications are freely downloadable from the USPTO Website.