Plant Breeder's Rights,

Having a search on the forum for Plant Breeder's Rights, I came across this thread.
My query concerns Geum Totally Tangerine which I believe is covered by PBR.

I have spent the morning dividing and potting up large clumps of this, and planned to donate them to my local Hedgehog Rescue to raise funds in due course by them selling the plants at open days etc.
Is this classed as illegal under the legislation ?

If it is, if I put the plants outside my house with a sign saying "Free, but donations to local Hedgehog Rescue welcome " would this be ok ?

 

So don't name the plants ! Or concoct your own name such as 'Tango One'
No case if you do not ' benefit' from their breeding...

 

It used to be the case, I believe, that as long as you don't label them with the variety's name it's fine. Maybe this is no longer the case technically (I don't know) but morally I think it is just.

 

All makes sense @infradig and @micearguers .
"Geum" it will be (assuming they survive of course...).

 

I just had a quick look and the Google ai summary (using government sites) says it only applies to commercial sales and that charity or amateur gardeners, who aren't selling regularly for profit, are exempt. So it seems you would be fine to name them as what they are.

 

Propogation and sale law is actually much stricter than people think, just it isnt enforced. All the etsy shops selling cuttings are probably illegal (yet to be clarified) for example, because all plant sales by post require both a plant passport and sanitary certificates the cost of which would make small sellers impossible.

Completely unenforceable but has been cracked down on more since brexit. the EU was even more hopeless at it than we are On some level it is deeply silly, but the EU and us being *too* lax helped caused the box moth apocalypse as one example of invasive pests being accidentally imported.

I wouldnt worry about donating a pbrd variety but I would recommend finding an alternative cultivar! it sometimes happens someone down the line of a protected variety tries to sell the seeds under a different name: this IS illegal, but they wouldnt know! (neither would anyone else without a dna test).

 

Quite right, also although the breeder has Plant Breeders Rights they have to enforce them, at least a "cease and desist" letter from a solicitor would be necessary to each seller. As many breeders are private individuals or small businesses they cannot afford to do anything about Etsy or EBay. It's probably not even worth it for the large companies in the field.
It's like most intellectual property, it costs you to register them and then it costs you even more to enforce and cases can last years and take a lot of effort.

 

Geum Totally Tangerine is sterile so no scope for illegal seed sellers on those sites .

 

PBRs only last 25 years and 30 for trees anyway!

 

If you don't know the variety (or claim not to know) and have no label, unless it's a very distinctive variety it could only be proved beyond doubt by a genetic test. I wouldn't think anyone would bother about a few small-fry charity sales or propagating to keep the plant going if it's a bit of the tender side, for example, an maybe giving away spare ones to friends. Making an income from it is something else. If a person was to be taken to court for it and found guilty they could end up liable for the costs of the testing (as well as legal costs etc).

 

I grow tottaly tangerine and have had geums popping up , I thought from that plant , but the seedlings I let flower have a dull orange flower ?

 

Seedlings from many plants don't look like the parent [assuming it's not a sterile variety of course] so you have to take cuttings or divide to get a flower that's identical to the parent.
Yours may have come from a different plant in another garden @Spruce.

There's a wild one too, but it's yellow rather than orange. It's very invasive in the right conditions.