North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Richard MURPHY" <murphman108@msn.com>]

Hi Heron;

 

I am not a lawyer. Senior electronics engineer >>> Orchardist

 

First of all, I don't know what is exactly implied in the 'Non-Propagation' statement.

 

If I make a back-up copy of a music CD for myself only, in case the original gets damaged, I can't imagine anyone would care. If I mass-produce and sell them, then I need to go to jail. So, if somebody puts a Royalty tree on a M111 in case his single $30 tree graft union dies or whatever, I don't think the Plant Police even care.

        If that same guy is doing this on a grand scale with 'profit as the sole motive', he may be in deep trouble. I'm not passing judgment on the merit of the Plant Patent Law of itself (don't want to re-ignite that one). But the way it is now, fair or not, is pretty clear. I think PROFIT AS THE SOLE MOTIVE is key in this case. If one were to top work 100 M111 with a Royalty tree, with the intent of selling the SUPERIOR FRUIT from those trees, one might get busted; (fruit, or young trees, NO Difference) If I only wanted to top work 100 trees or less, I would find out who to pay the royalty fee to, and pay it ($1 to $1.75) per tree, and keep the papers on file. Is it that simple? If so, it's probably the cheapest, least time-consuming legal path one could take.

 

Murph