Plant Patents

If you have an interest in plant patents you owe it to yourself to check out this project at the University of Maryland and not just because I'm mentioned on the credits page. Few color images of patented plants are available on the web but the UMD folks are working to change that.

Recently I noticed that some plant patents are assigned CPCs (Cooperative Patent Classification) so I've created a page about them.

There doesn't seem to be a list of plant patents online. I created a database of them from data available on uspto.gov. Here is a list of plant patents generated from that database. I can now spew fun facts like:

What are the most popular beginnings to plant patents titles?

counttitle beginnings
2,117Chrysanthemum plant named
761Geranium plant named
743Petunia plant named
564Miniature rose plant named
535New Guinea Impatiens plant named
527Calibrachoa plant named
496Hydrangea plant named

Or what are the most popular plant subclasses?

count¹subclasssubclass description
1141PLT/226plt plants/(226) shrub or vine
804PLT/263.1plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.)
732PLT/373plt plants/(373) herbaceous ornamental foliage plant
587PLT/311plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.) (311) orchid
552PLT/250plt plants/(226) shrub or vine (250) hydrangea
¹Counts when patents were retrieved, search result's count could differ slightly.

Or what are the least popular plant subclasses?

count¹subclasssubclass description
2PLT/169plt plants/(156) fruit (including ornamental variety) (161) apple (169) sport of cortland
2PLT/405plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.) (405) anthemis
2PLT/446plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.) (446) leschenaultia
3PLT/170plt plants/(156) fruit (including ornamental variety) (161) apple (170) sport of empire
3PLT/397plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.) (397) aconitum
3PLT/427plt plants/(263.1) herbaceous ornamnental flowering plant (nicotinia, nasturtium, etc.) (427) dimorphotheca
¹Counts when patents were retrieved, search result's count could differ slightly.

Or what are the most classifications plant patents have and which ones are they?

patent noissue datetitle4 classes
PP23,4842013-03-19Chrysanthemum plant named 'Zanmuflaminpine'PLT/297 PLT/284 PLT/286 PLT/296
PP23,7232013-07-09Peach tree named 'Polar Princess'PLT/196 PLT/194 PLT/195 PLT/197
PP23,9242013-09-24Chrysanthemum plant named 'CIFZ0031'PLT/290 PLT/284 PLT/286 PLT/287
PP24,0802013-12-10Poinsettia plant named 'Duevikicin'PLT/303 PLT/302 PLT/306 PLT/307
PP24,2012014-01-28Chrysanthemum plant named 'Amiko Bronze'PLT/296 PLT/286 PLT/287 PLT/290
PP24,5212014-06-03Petunia plant named 'USTUN47601'PLT/356.21 PLT/356.1 PLT/356.11 PLT/356.23
PP24,6342014-07-15Hybrid tea rose plant named 'Flirty Girl'PLT/131 PLT/130 PLT/132 PLT/139
PP24,8282014-09-02Shrub rose plant named 'WEKruneflo'PLT/107 PLT/101 PLT/102 PLT/106

Or what is the distribution of classifications per plant patent?

# plant patents# classes
35,4191
2242
593
84

Or what were the most prolific plant patent issue dates?

countissue date
532018-11-27
502018-02-27
492015-11-24
492016-03-08
492018-03-06
482020-10-13
472006-08-22
472011-12-20
472017-01-24
472018-04-03

Or how many plant patents were issued by decade?

Decadefirstcount
1930'sPP1351
1940'sPP352559
1950'sPP911981
1960'sPP1,8931,066
1970'sPP2,9591,532
1980'sPP4,4912,589
1990'sPP7,0894,057
2000'sPP11,1699,436
2010'sPP20,62210,686
2020'sPP31,3154,453
 Total:35,710

Or in what months were no plant patents issued?

List of reissued plant patents I've come across:

ReissueIssue DateTitleReissue ofOriginal ISD
RE28,304Jan 21, 1975Chrysanthemum PlantPP3,249Aug 1, 1972
RE28,435Jun 3, 1975Apple TreePP3,134Apr 25, 1972
RE29,912Feb 13, 1979Ilex verticillata bush named Winter Red PP4,146Nov 8, 1977
RE36,081Feb 9, 1999Bromeliad plant named `Guz 211`PP9,475Mar 12, 1996
RE46,030Jun 21, 2016Raspberry plant named `Advabertwee` PP23,914Sep 24, 2013
RE46,031Jun 21, 2016Raspberry plant named `Advaberimar` PP23,916Sep 24, 2013
RE46,041Jun 28, 2016Raspberry plant named `Advabereen` PP23,915Sep 24, 2013
RE49,247Oct 18, 2022Colocasia Plant Named `COPHAMA` PP33,772Dec 21, 2021

These fun facts are based on plant patents issued through 2024-04-23.