Research and Reports
Clarification of Current Requirements
Many of the orders' rules and regulations, such as maturity and size requirements, are variety-specific. The NAC and PCC recognize the variety names given to nectarine and peach cultivars by the nurseries or breeders that introduce them into the industry. Generally, new varietal introductions are named and patented before they are released and sold to producers for planting. Although breeders may use trademark names to promote their varieties, handlers are required to use the variety names designated by the breeders when marking containers and reporting shipments of fruit.
Occasionally, a new variety is introduced before the breeder has named and patented it. Often, the breeders use numeric identification designations to identify their introductions prior to patenting the new varieties with more descriptive or marketable names. Producers who grow these varieties deliver the fruit to handlers using the breeders' numeric identification designations. Because customers prefer more descriptive or marketable names rather than numbers on the varieties they receive, handlers sometimes use their own brand names or marketing names when identifying the numbered varieties that they ship. Thus a numbered variety may have more than one marketing name by which it is known prior to its final naming by the breeder. Trademark names, brand names, and marketing names should be used only in addition to the correct variety name or numeric identification designated by the breeder.
When a breeder obtains a patent for a variety that has already been released to the industry, the breeder contacts those producers who are growing that variety and gives them the patented name, which then becomes the correct name by which that variety is commonly known in the industry. The committees attempt to track the varieties by the correct variety names given the fruit by the breeders. In tracking, the committees may include parenthetically the marketing name(s), trademark name(s) or brand name(s) by which a particular variety is known, along with the correct name. However, as stated in §§ 916.350 (a)(2) and 917.442 (a)(2), handlers are required to use the correct variety name when marking containers. "…A marketing name, trade mark or brand name may be associated with the variety name, but cannot be substituted for the variety name." This assures the committees that all varieties are regulated properly.
Source: USDA