7 U.S.C. § 2425 — Benefit of earlier filing date
submitted 56 years ago by Pub. L. 91-577 to r/title-7-AGRICULTURE · 450 words · no verdicts yet
A plant-variety application in the United States may receive the filing date of an earlier foreign application if the conditions and deadlines are met. Similar benefits apply to certain earlier United States applications, but a later application alone does not prove an earlier-described characteristic existed earlier.
(a) (1) An application here for protection of the same variety, based on rights from the same breeder*, has the effect of being filed here on the date the same variety’s application was first filed in a foreign country if that country gives United States nationals similar privileges and the United States application is filed within 12 months after the earliest foreign filing date. The foreign filing date itself is not counted in that 12-month period. (2) The applicant receives priority only if the foreign application is identified in the United States application or an amendment and, if the Secretary requires it, the applicant supplies the specified copy, translation, or both. (3)(A) An applicant entitled to priority may provide information, documents, or materials needed to examine the application during (i) the two years beginning when the priority period ends, or (ii) if the first application is rejected or withdrawn, a suitable period after that rejection or withdrawal set by the Secretary. (B) An event during the priority period, such as another application or use of the variety, is not a reason to reject the application and does not create a third-party right.
(b) An application for protection of the same variety as an earlier United States application by or for the same person, or by that person’s predecessor in title, has the same effect as if filed on the earlier date if it is filed before the certificate issues or the first proceeding otherwise ends, or before a similarly entitled application ends, and if it refers specifically to the earlier application.
(c) A later application alone does not prove that a newly described characteristic was present in the variety when the earlier application was filed.
An application for a certificate of plant variety protection filed in this country based on the same variety, and on rights derived from the same breeder*, on which there has previously been filed an application for plant variety protection in a foreign country which affords similar privileges in the case of applications filed in the United States by nationals of the United States, shall have the same effect as the same application would have if filed in the United States on the date on which the application for plant variety protection for the same variety was first filed in such foreign country, if the application in this country is filed within twelve months from the earliest date on which such foreign application was filed, not including the date on which the application is filed in the foreign country.
No application shall be entitled to a right of priority under this section, unless the applicant designates the foreign application in the application filed in the United States or by amendment thereto and, if required by the Secretary, furnishes such copy, translation or both, as the Secretary may specify.
An applicant entitled to a right of priority under this subsection shall be allowed to furnish any necessary information, document, or material required for the purpose of the examination of the application during—
the 2-year period beginning on the date of the expiration of the period of priority; or
if the first application is rejected or withdrawn, an appropriate period after the rejection or withdrawal, to be determined by the Secretary.
An event occurring within the period of priority (such as the filing of another application or use of the variety that is the subject of the first application) shall not constitute a ground for rejecting the application or give rise to any third party right.
An application for a certificate of plant variety protection for the same variety as was the subject of an application previously filed in the United States by or on behalf of the same person, or by the predecessor in title of the person, shall have the same effect as to such variety as though filed on the date of the prior application if filed before the issuance of the certificate or other termination of proceedings on the first application or on an application similarly entitled to the benefit of the filing date of the first application and if it contains or is amended to contain a specific reference to the earlier filed application.
A later application shall not by itself establish that a characteristic newly described was in the variety at the time of the earlier application.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 91–577, title II, § 55, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1548; Pub. L. 103–349, §§ 5, 13(i), Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3139, 3143.)
- 1970Enacted · Pub. L. 91-577 · 84 Stat. 1548
- 1994Amended · Pub. L. 103-349 · 108 Stat. 3139, 3143
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 91-577 on 1970-12-24.
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