The Cost of Doing Business
Approximately 50 percent of all plant patents are filed pro se—that is, by their inventors without the assistance of patent counsel. This is because there’s only one claim, and it’s illustrated and described. In other words, what you see is what you get. It’s not unlike the design patent in that regard. If inventors want to get into the molecular biology of their plants, they typically hire a botanist to draft the description and may have a patent attorney check it for format.
Figure the price of photography and printing of two images of the plant. Pictures or watercolor drawings are required if color is a distinguishing characteristic of the new variety. If you don’t submit color photographs or drawings, the examiner may require them.
For the most current fees, check the USPTO website at www.uspto.gov or call 1-800- 786-9199 or 571-272-1000. Fees change annually around October.
Fast Facts
A proponent of the legislation that would make plants patentable, inventor Thomas Alva Edison sent a telegram to Congress that read, in part: “Nothing that Congress could do to help farming would be of greater value and permanence than to give to the plant breeder the same status as the mechanical and chemical inventors now have through patent law. There are but a few plant breeders. This will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks.” (He was referring to horticulturist and plant breeder Luther Burbank, mentioned earlier.)
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