‘Staccato’ Cherry-Tree Patent Held by Canadian Agency Is Nixed

A patent for a tree that bears a late-harvest variety of sweet cherries known as “Staccato” shouldn’t have been issued to a department of the Canadian government that runs a breeding program, a federal judge ruled in a victory for a Washington State-based supplier of fruit trees.

Plant Patent No. 20,551 is invalid because the fruit was being made available for commercial sale “prior to the ‘critical date,’ which is one year prior to the effective filing date of the patent application,” Judge Stanley A. Bastian wrote in an order issued Dec. 30 in the US District Court for the ...