Siegers Seed Co. Threatens Action over Warty Pumpkins

Reader Contribution by Hank Will and Editor-In-Chief
Published on February 6, 2009

<p>I admit to being more than a little disappointed that&nbsp;<a title=”Siegers Seed Co” href=”http://www.siegers.com/default.htm” target=”_blank”>Siegers Seed Co</a>. is already playing hardball over&nbsp;<a title=”its claim” href=”/siegers-attempts-to-patent-pumpkin-history.aspx?blogid=184″>its claim</a>&nbsp;to own exclusive rights to the wart trait in cucurbits. The company evidently sent a threatening letter to&nbsp;<a title=”Rupp Seed Company” href=”http://www.ruppseeds.com/” target=”_blank”>Rupp Seed Company</a>&nbsp;on January 12<sup>th</sup> warning that they would seek damages if Rupp didn&rsquo;t cease any and all marketing, development and sales efforts at this time &hellip; once Siegers&rsquo; patent on warts was approved.</p>
<p>The problem with patent pending in this case is that Siegers seems to have figured out a way to own a common cucurbit gene for several years, at the very least, by tying it up in what appears to be a bogus patent application. So even if it turns out that the patent is not awarded, by the time all of the appeals and the like are completed, Siegers can threaten other companies with action, while selling wart-gene containing seeds exclusively until the case is finally settled.</p>
<p>Here are some facts about cucurbit warts:</p>
<p>1. The warted gourds were considered to be a “race” of Cucurbita pepo already in 1786.</p>
<p>2. Warted pumpkins ‘Nantucket’ and ‘Brazilian Sugar’ were described by numerous authors in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. According to Harry Paris, cucurbit expert and author, Bailey&rsquo;s (1902) <em>Cyclopedia of American Horticulture</em>,<em>&nbsp;</em>pp. 1711&ndash;1713, has an illustration of ‘Nantucket’. And Zhiteneva (1930) <em>The World’s Assortment of Pumpkins</em>. <em>Trudy Prikl. Bot. Genet. Selek.</em> 23: 157 &ndash; 207 has photographs of numerous warted pumpkins.</p>
<p>3. Warted gourds of Cucurbita pepo have a history dating to 1587.</p>

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-866-803-7096