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Man... Fuck the US patent system.
"Our Firefly Petunias are protected under patent, and as such, propagation and breeding are not permitted. These petunias are sold exclusively for personal use."

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emilmuzz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
‘Personal use’ covers propagation and breeding by an individual, for non-commercial purposes. Nobody’s saying -you- can’t try to propigate or breed them, but you could be libel if you try to make money off the endevor.

In this case I would say the patent system is working as intended, in that it gives some protection to LightBio’s investment into creating the firefly. While I would LOVE to see an expanded variety available from other -commercial- growers (with MUCH larger operations and funding), I don’t want it to be at the expense of LightBio’s effort, or the commercial succes they’ve earned for creating it in the first place.

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- youngGoku@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  You could give them away as gifts legally right?
  
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  - aasatru@kbin.earth ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
    Yeah, just don't set up a competing business and you're fine.
    
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emilmuzz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
Don’t get me wrong, I still feel dirty for defending the US patent system. lol

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Zetta@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ it is what it is, however petunias are very easy to propagate and you can do whatever you want with your plant as long as you aren’t selling it.

I already have a second one growing from a cutting I took.

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- Hello_there@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
  Ok, I'll take back some of my hate. I thought they had put some sort of monsanto-like 'if you try to reproduce it on your own they'll die' gene.
  If it's not 'pay $40 if you want another plant' then that's more reasonable.
  
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SchmidtGenetics@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago
To be fair, they probably spent years of time, effort and money to design this product. Why should someone else be able to propagate it and profit from their blood sweat and tears?

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