Do the 102 and 103 provisions apply to plant applications and patents?

The correct answer is that the 102 and 103 provisions do not apply to plant applications and patents.

Under U.S. patent law, specifically outlined in 35 U.S.C. § 161, plant patents are treated differently compared to utility patents in certain aspects, particularly concerning novelty and non-obviousness requirements. The provisions of 35 U.S.C. § 102 relate to novelty, stating that a patent may not be granted if the invention was known or used by others before the patent applicant's invention or has been described in a printed publication. Likewise, 35 U.S.C. § 103 addresses non-obviousness, which assesses whether the invention would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention.

For plant patents, these specific provisions (sections 102 and 103) do not apply in the same manner as they do for utility patents. The reason lies in the nature of plant inventions. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has established that the criteria for determining the patentability of plants are less restrictive compared to those for utility inventions, acknowledging that the breeding of plants often involves more variability and uncertainty.

Thus, while a plant invention can be scrutinized for its