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The Patent Garden

US Plant Patent PP4216

Maryland

African violet plant

PUBLIC DOMAIN

Patent expired February 21, 1995. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.

Twenty years from the filing date would end on November 30, 1996, but this patent ends 648 days earlier — a terminal disclaimer gives term back. A source that calculates twenty years from filing would tell you this plant is still protected when it is already free.

The record

Patent number
PP4216
Filed
November 30, 1976
Granted
February 21, 1978
Expires
February 21, 1995
Inventor
HOLTKAMP REINHOLD

Abstract

A distinct African Violet plant having strong and erect flower stems, flowers which are medium blue in flower color and relatively large and star-shaped in form, uniform flowering, and generally round, medium green foliage.

Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.

I claim: 1. A new and distinct cultivar of African violet known by the cultivar name Maryland and characterized particularly as to uniqueness by the combined characteristics of large star-shaped flowers which are medium blue in flower color and non-dropping; generally round, medium green foliage; erect, upright and strong flower stems; compact growth habit; continuous flowering and very uniform first flowering, approximately 6-7 weeks after potting.

Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP4216 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.