I bought Agastache Kudos Gold two years ago. This year it was loaded with seeds and I collected some. Is it illegal and/or unethical to offer the seeds in a seed swap? I'm unclear EXACTLY what propagation prohibited entails.

You cannot propagate by cuttings as that would be an exact copy of the plant. Seeds are okay because there is no way to know if they will come true to the patented plant. An explanation is here:
http://www.successwithseed.org...

Thank you Greene!

Oh, and excellent link too!!

for the

PPAF means that a Plant Patent has been applied for. Until the plant is actually covered by a Patent, they could not do anything to one who asexually propagates it.

Not according to the article linked above.

Until a patent claim is rejected it is still protected under PPAF. That is the purpose of putting PPAF on the label, to let you know that it is protected.

"Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. The protection afforded by a patent does not start until the actual grant of the patent. False use of these phrases or their equivalent is prohibited."
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-g...

I guess the law is always open for interpretations so one can always find different views on the subject. However reading what the US patent office has to say, I would think that David is correct here, BUT I also assume that when the patent is actually granted, you perhaps could end up in all sorts of trouble for what you have done before.

A different interpretation here:
"PPAF is a term used by our industry to put others on notice that a variety is “Plant Patent Applied For.” It is equivalent to the term “Patent Pending”. The purpose of giving notice in this way is to forewarn others that a patent application is in process and, upon issuance, the plant concerned becomes instantly subject to the patent holder’s right to exclude all non-permitted activity. Thus, growers and propagators will often accept a license in order to be “grandfathered in” to the expected issue of the plant patent."
http://www.planthaven.com/pdfs...

Thank you all for the great info! It is good to know

@jvdubb,
When you made this post you must have thought that it was wrong to sell or trade the seeds. The question was about seeds. It is perfectly legal (and morally correct) to share the seeds of a PPAF plant.

As for propagating by cuttings, and I know you did not ask about cuttings...do what you think is the right thing to do for your own conscience.

Okay, now send me some seeds.

@Greene I will be happy to send you some seeds when you are all settled at your new place and ready to plant.

Thanks!
(And thanks for keeping up with my current situation. )

William said:"Some persons mark articles sold with the terms “Patent Applied For” or “Patent Pending.” These phrases have no legal effect, but only give information that an application for patent has been filed in the USPTO. The protection afforded by a patent does not start until the actual grant of the patent. False use of these phrases or their equivalent is prohibited."
http://www.uspto.gov/patents-g...

I guess the law is always open for interpretations so one can always find different views on the subject. However reading what the US patent office has to say, I would think that David is correct here, BUT I also assume that when the patent is actually granted, you perhaps could end up in all sorts of trouble for what you have done before.

I have been following this issue for decades. That is why I posted what I posted. Unless you see info of the Patent #, PPAF means squat and lawsuits have indicated as much. FWIW, I have never heard of an individual doing a cutting for thier own use getting into trouble. If one does cuttings for commercial purposes, they can and have gotten in trouble.

Now this IS about seeds. They are NOT covered. Seeds are Sexual - not Asexual.

I didn't mean to open a can of worms!

No Can of worms Jennifer - just the exchange of info. The PPAF issue has created a lot of discussion. Between that and Trademarking plant names, the past 20 years has had a lot of controversy. The Trademarked name issue is even worse than PPAF issue. The same exact same plant can be sold under numerous names. Anyway, take yer seeds and do whatever you want.

In my opinion, both your first and second posting was very informative, David

But, true this is about seeds, so perhaps I should mention that if one would grow something that gives apomictic (extremly unlikely) seeds, they would seem to be protected by the plant patent: http://www.uspto.gov/patents-g...

I just ignore all that BS entirely. But I would never sell something coming from a cutting commercially. For my own personal use is entirely another matter.

And if I happened to "grow something that gives apomictic (extremly unlikely) seeds" I simply would not tell anyone.

jvdubb, you have the answer to your question.

If others want to have a lively discussion about something else...a different subject not related to the seed question... well, there is lots of room to create a new thread for that purpose. Please consider that each post to this thread results in notification to the original poster.

I'll be moving along now...