
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 7USC2425]

 
                          TITLE 7--AGRICULTURE
 
                  CHAPTER 57--PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION
 
  SUBCHAPTER II--PROTECTABILITY OF PLANT VARIETIES AND CERTIFICATES OF 
                               PROTECTION
 
Part E--Applications; Form; Who May File; Relating Back; Confidentiality
 
Sec. 2425. Benefit of earlier filing date

    (a)(1) 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.
    (2) 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.
    (3)(A) 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--
        (i) the 2-year period beginning on the date of the expiration of 
    the period of priority; or
        (ii) if the first application is rejected or withdrawn, an 
    appropriate period after the rejection or withdrawal, to be 
    determined by the Secretary.

    (B) 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.
    (b) 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.
    (c) A later application shall not by itself establish that a 
characteristic newly described was in the variety at the time of the 
earlier application.

(Pub. L. 91-577, title II, Sec. 55, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1548; Pub. 
L. 103-349, Secs. 5, 13(i), Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3139, 3143.)


                               Amendments

    1994--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-349, Sec. 5(1), designated first 
sentence as par. (1) and second sentence as par. (2).
    Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 103-349, Sec. 5(2), inserted before period 
at end ``, not including the date on which the application is filed in 
the foreign country''.
    Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 103-349, Sec. 13(i)(1), substituted ``in the 
application filed in the United States'' for ``in his application''.
    Subsec. (a)(3). Pub. L. 103-349, Sec. 5(3), added par. (3).
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103-349, Sec. 13(i)(2), substituted ``the 
predecessor in title of the person'' for ``his predecessor in title''.


                    Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 103-349 effective 180 days after Oct. 6, 1994, 
see section 15 of Pub. L. 103-349, set out as a note under section 2401 
of this title.
