151 



Further, although Section 163 clearly prohibits unauthorized parties from 

 reproducing, selling or using the protected plant itself, the Act is ambiguous about 

 the protection of plant parts . The effect of this ambiguity is that plant parts (for 

 example, cut flowers) produced from unauthorized replication of protected plants, 

 can be sold with no royalty revenue accruing to the breeder. Plant breeders and 

 growers are concerned that a significant amount of cut flowers are being traded in 

 U.S. markets even though they were produced from plants originally reproduced 

 without the permission of the patent holders. 



The floriculture industry is a murtJbillion dollar industry of great importance to 

 U.S. agriculture and to the U.S. economy. Yet the industry is threatened, 

 because American growers and plant breeders may lack adequate protection in 

 other nations. We commend the Subcommittee and the sponsors of H.R. 2927 

 for their efforts to address needs of developers and growers producers of 

 seed-reproduced plants. We look forward in the future to working with the 

 Congress to address needed amendments to the Plant Patent Act, as well. 



