Public access to seed of formerly protected varieties after expiry of the Plant Breeders’ Rights

In the U.S., seed samples of protected varieties are available to the public through the US National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) when the plant variety protection on the variety expires for any reason. At that point, seed samples are transferred to the NPGS genebanks and can be requested by farmers, breeders, and the public without restrictions for use in research, plant breeding, and education. The objective is to facilitate access to such seed for qualified variety developers, which will ultimately benefit farmers. This arrangement, which relies on an agreement between the Plant Variety Protection Office and the NPGS, has been in place since the mid 1970’s.