Patenting a plant
Why I chose to patent my Alocasia hybrid, ‘Green Unicorn’
Alocasias are challenging plants to hybridize. Unlike easy-to-pollinate anthuriums, alocasias often reject pollen of other alocasia species from the start, or abort seed formation prior to completion. Therefore, when I was able to successfully cross two desirable alocasia species (Alocasia azlanii and Alocasia baginda ‘Dragon Scale’) and create a new hybrid plant that was as beautiful, but more hardy, I thought maybe I should protect it.
To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if I should go through the process of patenting it at first. As a rare plant seller, I’m used to creating new anthruium hybrids and selling them to plant collectors without patenting them first, all the time. However, this one felt different. My gut was telling me to go a different route. Alocasia hybrids are not only a lot more difficult to create, but alocasias themselves are sold to houseplant enthusiasts (not just rare plant collectors) on a large scale, as they are easier to grow and maintain. They are also very easy for tissue culture companies to produce by the thousands. After consulting with a few close friends in the hobby, I decided I would pursue obtaining a patent for my creation.
Breeding plants is not cheap, as it is a long, slow process. I imported a few of my azlanii mother plants from Indonesia before they were widely available for about $300 a piece (now they are mass produced in tissue culture and cost much less). I grew them to flowering size for a year. My ‘Dragon Scale’ cost around $150 at the time that I purchased it, and likewise took at least six months to get to a size where it was regularly producing flowers. It then took me over a year of trying to pollinate my collection of alocasias (there was hardly any information online on how to do it so it was all trial and error and teaching myself) before it worked, and five additional months of keeping the azlanii healthy enough for the “Green Unicorn’ berries to ripen. This meant no neglect – not even when I was on vacation!
My seed parent, Alocasia azlanii, creating berries containing hybrid seeds. The most vigorous and beautiful plant grown from the seeds inside these berries was be chosen to become Alocasia ‘Green Unicorn.” These berries took five months to fully ripen. Here they are almost ripe, but not quite yet!
One of these seeds became my patented plant.
After harvesting the berries, I grew the seeds into full sized flowering plants, and selected the most beautiful and vigorous one to be ‘Green Unicorn.’ It was no contest. One of the plants towered over the rest.
Then, months later, I harvested the corms from that plant, in order to prove that the plant could reproduce asexually and pass on the same genetic traits. In order to receive a patent, the corms must be grown out into mature plants. This all takes time and resources and lot of documentation.
If I was to release my creation to the world without a patent, within a few months, a tissue culture lab in Asia would likely get ahold of it, mass produce it by the thousands, and I would never see a dime from the sale of the plant. Sure, I could sell the first few for a high amount to collectors, but after that, we all know how rapidly tissue culture labs produce alocasias! Most importantly all licensing opportunities would be gone. Tissue culture labs and/or plant breeder’s agents would not be interested in working with me on a licensing deal because it would not have legal protection. Years of work on creating this hybrid, and I would have nothing to show for it.
Today, I license the plant to a tissue culture lab for mass production, and collect a modest royalty from their sales to plant shops (they sell wholesale). I am also currently working with a breeder’s agent in Europe to gain protection for the plant world-wide.
I am still learning every step of the way. No one taught me how to do this, or held my hand. There was no tutorial online about obtaining a plant patent for an ornamental plant, as a hobbyist grower or small nursery. I did a lot of cold calling and emailing random attorneys and breeder’s agents. I contacted the brightest growers and plant people I knew. Getting a patent for this plant felt like jumping off of a diving board with a blindfold on. I am forever grateful for those of you who helped me in the ways that you could along the way, even if it meant giving me the contact information for a professional to help me with the “next step” or, telling me not to have a nervous breakdown and that it would all work out (I always need to hear that).
I am not getting rich off of this plant, but at least I am getting compensated for years of work and continued dedication. I have patent protection for up to 20 years.
If you create a hybrid that you think would potentially be popular in the houseplant marketplace, I recommend you search online for a “Plant Breeder’s Agent” and contact them with information about your plant. Working directly with one from the start would have helped me a lot looking back. You too may have the next ‘Green Unicorn!’
