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tell you that, in our opinion, the proposed amendments to the Plant 

 Variety Protection Act address these problems. 



We do recommend one change to the legislation to ensure the equal and 

 adequate protection of plant breeders' rights. We strongly believe that 

 Section 12, which addresses the transition from the current PVP Act to 

 the revised PVP Act, needs to be changed. The transition section, as 

 written, penalizes those breeders currently in the process of developing a 

 new variety. 



As written, the transition period protects not only previously protected 

 varieties under the current, weaker law, but also those varieties that are 

 in the process of being protected. If plant breeders withdraw and 

 resubmit their applications, it will delay the commercialization of new 

 varieties and contribute to a backlog in the PVP office. This will only 

 deny U.S. farmers quick access to the latest genetic developments. We 

 believe it is vital that the additional protection provided in this legislation 

 be available immediately for those existing protected varieties. This will 

 benefit both plant breeders and U.S. farmers. 



Pioneer supports the revisions to the transition section as proposed by 

 the industry. We firmly believe it treats researchers, farmers and owners 

 of protected varieties fairly. As proposed, any seed grown on or after the 

 effective date of the new PVPA would be protected under the new law. If 

 farmer-saved seed was grown prior to the effective date, it would be 

 regulated under the current law. 



Under the proposed change, the rights of plant breeders against 

 infringement by "essentially derived varieties" would go into effect much 

 the same as farmer- saved seed rules. Any potentially "infringing" acts, 

 such as sales that occurred prior to the effective date of the new Act, 

 would be determined under the old provisions of PVPA. 



As we have said, PVP is about intellectual property rights. A variety does 

 not just spring into being as a part of nature's handiwork. It takes years 

 and it is the career enterprise of a plant breeder. It requires the careful 

 application of the science of genetics, detailed observation, testing and 

 recognition of events that occur with a frequency of less than one in 

 100,000, insight, imagination, and luck. Nature supplies the luck, the 

 plant breeder supplies everything else. Through his or her work, the 

 plant breeder creates something that has not existed before. It is 

 something of value — property. The creator of a piece of property owns it. 



This is the same basic principle applied in literature and art. We all start 

 with the same alphabet, the same words,' the same colors. Some of us 



