USDA Issues Four New Certificates of Protection

The USDA's Agricultural marketing Service administers the Plant Variety Protection Act, which provides time-limited marketing protection to developers of new crops and flowers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued certificates of protection to the developers of four new varieties of seed-reproduced turfgrass under the Plant Variety Protection Act, which requires them to be new, distinct, uniform and stable. Their owners have the exclusive right to reproduce, sell, import and export these products in the U.S. The certificates are for:

• Brighton creeping bentgrass, developed by Seed Research of Oregon, Corvallis, Ore.
• Greenwich velvet bentgrass, developed by Pure Seed Testing, Inc., Hubbard, Ore.
• Seaside II creeping bentgrass, developed by Pennsylvania Agricultural Experiment Station, University Park, Pa.
• Boutique Kentucky bluegrass, developed by Turf Merchants, Inc., Tangent, Ore.