July 14, 2026
Mr. McGovern (for himself and Mr. Casar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
To amend the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to limit intellectual property protection for plants, and for other purposes.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Fair Seeds for Farmers Act
.
Sec. 2. Limitation on intellectual property protection for plants
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (35 U.S.C. 1 note; Public Law 112–29) is amended—
(1)
in section 33, by adding at the end of the section heading the following: for human organisms
; and
(2)
by inserting after such section the following (and conforming the table of contents appropriately):
33A. Limitation on intellectual property protection for plants
(a) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
(1)
no protection may be provided under any Federal law with respect to a plant, plant variety, or plant germplasm, except pursuant to a law described in subsection (b); and
(2)
no contractual obligation or agreement that may be allowable under the laws described in subsection (b) that limits the use of a plant, plant variety, plant germplasm, or other biological material for research, breeding, experimentation, seed saving, or propagation may be enforced.
(b) Laws described
The laws described in this subsection are the following:
(1)
The Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).
(2)
Chapter 15 of title 35, United States Code (commonly known as the
Plant Patent Act of 1930).(c) Definitions
In this section:
(1) Germplasm
The term germplasm means plant material capable of propagation, including seeds, pollen, tubers, or rootstock for use in breeding, conservation, or research.
(2) Plant variety
The term plant variety means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank that can be defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one characteristic and considered as a unit with regard to the suitability of the plant grouping for being propagated unchanged. A plant variety may be represented by seed, transplants, plants, tubers, tissue culture plantlets, and other matter.
(d) Effective date
(1) In general
Subsection (a) shall apply to—
(A)
any application for a patent that is pending on, or filed on or after, the date of enactment of this section; and
(B)
any contractual obligation or agreement entered into on or after the date of enactment of this section.
(2) Prior applications
Subsection (a) shall not affect the validity of any patent issued on an application to which paragraph (1) does not apply.