Plant Patent Act of 1930

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The Plant Patent Act of 1930 (enacted on 1930-06-17 as Title III of the Hawley-Smoot Tariff, ch. 497, 46 Stat. 703) is a United States federal law spurred by the work of Luther Burbank.

This piece of legislation made it possible to patent new varieties of plants, excluding sexual and tuber-propagated plants (see Plant Variety Protection Act). In supporting the legislation, Thomas Edison testified before Congress in support of the legislation and said,

"This [bill] will, I feel sure, give us many Burbanks."

Plant patents numbers 12-16, 18, 41, 65 and 66, 235, 266 and 267, 269, 290 and 291, and 1041 were issued to Burbank posthumously.