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  Trademark Names
From: Tony Avent tony at plantdelights.com> on 2006.11.26 at 22:55:53(14860)
Jani:

You brought up an interesting point about names. Internationally,
there can only be one valid cultivar name for a plant...not one for the
US and one for Europe. The improper dual plant naming is caused
primarily by people who either don't understand or are trying to
illegally circumvent trademark law. I understand that the EU Plant
Varieties Act actually requires a new plant to have a non-sensical
cultivar name which isn't a real word. If so, this violates the entire
spirit of the International Nomenclature Code. If this is true, I find
it bizarre that members of the International Nomenclature Code
committee haven't put an end to this terrible practice. Wilbert...feel
free to chime in. If you would like to read more about this problem,
you can find my article, The Trademark Myth at
http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/trademark.html
Tony Avent

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From: "Agoston Janos" agoston.janos at citromail.hu> on 2006.11.27 at 08:47:04(14862)
Dear Tony,thank you for your reply! I did not know that therwe is an International Nomenclature. I just saw, that Prowen winners usally do this. They protected these Oxalis varieties all over the world, and they started the patenting at one time both in Europe and in America.Now I can look for the proper Amecican names (from Euro American Propagators catalogue): Oxalis 'Charmed Jade', 'Charmed Wine' and 'Charmed Velvet'.I also do not urderstand if it is derived from O. triangularis why don't they use the proper name. This is the most annoying from all.I can tell you, that we have asked many dutch perennial traders to send us a catalogue. We compared their lists and prices. And there were many plants just with a genus name without epitheton. There were just so many Graniums with a variety name, so the others were looking for an epitheton. Most of them were oxonianum, as they saw. But is it hard for the secretarys to type an epitheton? I do not think so, becouse we have more than 4000 perennials in our list. W
e hope it is correct, but this can cause many problems.Tony, I'll read your article today. Now I have to go...Bye,Jani-- Eredeti üzenet --Feladó: Tony Avent Címzett: Discussion of aroids Másolat: Elküldve: 00:44Téma: Re: [Aroid-l] Trademark Names Jani: You brought up an interesting point about names. Internationally, there can only be one valid cultivar name for a plant...not one for the US and one for Europe. The improper dual plant naming is caused primarily by people who either don't understand or are trying to illegally circumvent trademark law. I understand that the EU Plant Varieties Act actually requires a new plant to have a non-sensical cultivar name which isn't a real word. If so, this violates the entire spirit of the International Nomenclature Code. If this is true, I find it bizarre that members of the International Nomenclature Code committee haven't put an end to this terrible practice
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From: Susan B honeybunny442 at yahoo.com> on 2006.11.27 at 15:25:17(14865)
Tony,What about big biz like Wayside Gardens? Zantedeschia Picasso is a patented name, but it is also sold as Zantedeschia Wizzard, both varieties being sold in the US.Susan

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From: Susan B honeybunny442 at yahoo.com> on 2006.11.28 at 01:25:16(14867)
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/wholesale/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid82Terra Nova Nurseries has some information on patenting plants..Susan----- Original Message ----From: Agoston Janos To: Discussion of aroids Sent: Monday, November 27, 2006 3:29:28 AMSubject: Re: [Aroid-l] Trademark Names
Hey Tony,You did it again! It is a very good article! Now we are not afraid any more. All of our patented plants are named and sold only on patent and not on cultivar name. But everywhere in catalogues we saw only the patented name not cultivar name, moreover, we have ordered tulips, and there were no sign of patent , but on the invoice there was. This is what you were talking about as invalid trademarks.Ver(r)y funny... Ha ha for others who did not read the article.thank you for calling up my attention tho your findings!Are there any other aroids which are trademarked (excluding Anthuriums and Zantedeschias)?Does anybody has experience with Timber Press? Any opinions about the Aroid book (anybody can respond...)?Bye,Jani

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From: Tony Avent tony at plantdelights.com> on 2006.11.28 at 13:31:00(14870)
Jani:

Unfortunately the EU Plant Varieties Office and the US Patent and
Trademark Divisions don't communicate with each other very well, and
none pay any attention to the International Nomenclature Code. I've
seen many cases where a plant was patented under an invalid name in the
US, a different invalid name in the EU, and then illegally trademarked
under a third different name. It is only when the illegality is
challenged by a private citizen or company that the government takes
action. The first case of an illegal trademark being challenged just
made it through the US Court system this year with the court correctly
ruling that all of the Stark Brothers trademarks are invalid. With the
oxalis, Charmed tm is a valid trademark for the series, but the
cultivar names which cannot include the trademark, become O. 'Wine' O.
'Jade', etc. Proven Winners catalog is a nomenclatural disaster. They
even introduced a Euphorbia under the cultivar 'Helena' when there was
already a different Euphorbia 'Helena' patented. If a plant is
introduced is under an invalid cultivar name, anyone can rename it in a
proper publication. If more people did this, these nurseries would
learn. An example would be the recent Echinacea 'CBG Cone3'. We
simply renamed the plant and published their illegal trademark name of
'Mango Meadowbrite' as the official cultivar name. Unfortunately, most
nurseries and breeders that I discuss this with don't care or are
defiant in breaking the law. Often in the quest for maximizing
profits, accuracy in the form of good hardiness data and proper
nomenclature is thrown out the window. people forget that the reason
horticultural nomenclature exists is so that we can all communicate.
Tony Avent

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From: Tony Avent tony at plantdelights.com> on 2006.11.28 at 13:45:00(14871)
Susan:

Zantedeschia 'Picasso' is a patented plant, but I am unfamiliar with
the name Wizard. Here is a link to the the search page for the US
Patent Office which you may find of interest. Go here and type in the
word Zantedeschia, in the Term 1 box and hit search.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html
This will give you information about the introducer, the parentage, and
lots of other interesting info. It's a Federal Crime to give false
information here, so these are fairly accurate. I usually find this
info doesn't come anywhere close to the marketing hype that is printed
by nurseries selling the same plants. Most nurseries don't realize
that the Federal Trade Commission has laws that govern how plants are
sold and marketed. If you are tired of a plant being intentionally
hyped with false claims and sold under the wrong names, don't hesitate
to give the US Trademark Office or the FTC a call.

Tony Avent

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From: "Agoston Janos" agoston.janos at citromail.hu> on 2006.11.28 at 17:40:12(14874)
Thank you all for the informations. I checked the german site, and I realized, that The Aroids book is well worth a try.Thank you again!Jani

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