I thought in most cases its actually not Patents, nor Copyrights, but Trademarks.
Which was an important distinction because unlike patents which expire after 20 years, and copyright which is life of the author plus 70 years or something, trademarks never expire.
So if you want to sell Y branded apples you have to join the Y growers association who own the trademark and pay them fees for every tree you plant, and that will continue forever. On the flip side, if they don’t also get a patent, then if you could get your hands on the seeds you’d be able to grow and sell Y apples but you’d have to come up with a different name / trademark for them.
Yeah I worked in the industry for a while. A vast majority of apple fruit and apple based products are copyrighted.
I thought in most cases its actually not Patents, nor Copyrights, but Trademarks.
Which was an important distinction because unlike patents which expire after 20 years, and copyright which is life of the author plus 70 years or something, trademarks never expire.
So if you want to sell Y branded apples you have to join the Y growers association who own the trademark and pay them fees for every tree you plant, and that will continue forever. On the flip side, if they don’t also get a patent, then if you could get your hands on the seeds you’d be able to grow and sell Y apples but you’d have to come up with a different name / trademark for them.