North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <list@ginda.us>]

On Feb 22, 2006, at 2:04 PM, Dennis Norton wrote:

. . .

Yes, Chris, is does mean the copyright last forever, as long as the corporation exists.  This assures the writer's estate will maintain the copyright for future generations to receive any and all royalties due to the copyright holder. . .

No, if that's true it means that unless the book is a real blockbuster, like "Gone with the Wind", it will be impossible for anyone legally to create a copy of it after some moderate period of time, and not only will the author's family stop getting money (which would have happened in any case) but the author loses his shot at immortality - it won't be cataloged electronically where scholars of later generations might find it, nor will it be available in public archives where a new generation of readers might come across it.   Most works just aren't worth tracking down the copyright owner.  But I digress from the topic, which is plant patents.

Heron asked "what would you do?"  I'm unlikely to discover someone is violating a fruit patent, but I have other hobbies.  I also play with mechanical puzzles (like Rubik's cube" a world where few designs are worth patenting, because it costs so much to defend a patent it's rarely worth it.  But I've come across improper use of someone else's intellectual property.  In one case I found a mass-market version of a puzzle that actually had been patented.  I knew that the patent owner was no longer making the puzzle, but also that he would have been happy to license the design to others.  I also knew that I badly wanted the puzzle and there weren't any legitimate ones on the market.  My personal choice was to buy the item, and send the enclosed brochure (which showed that the manufacturer was ripping off a few other designs from this man) to the designer.   It probably would have been nobler to just tell the designer, and not enrich the copycat, but I was weak.

If I found someone making one or two copies of a puzzle for personal use I might suggest he talk to the creator, but I wouldn't do anything more than that.  

Since there's no practical way to pay a plant patent holder for one or two copies (or even get permission to make them) I wouldn't bother suggesting it.  I think you have a moral, if not a legal, right to make a "backup" plant, anyhow.  But if I came across a significant case of commercial propagation of a patented variety, I would attempt to tell the patent-holder.

Creating some sort of public repository for minor patented plants (like how music copyrights are handled) probably isn't worth it, since patents last for a short enough period of time that if the plant is really valuable it will still be available to copy after the patent expires.  This, by the way, is in keeping with the justification of patents, copyrights, and other legal protections of intellectual property, as per the US constitution.  The "not if it was created after Mickey Mouse" copyright rule is wildly out of line with that justification, which is to increase the value of what is in the public domain.