US Plant Patent PP13134
Black Kat
Interspecific tree named ‘Black Kat’
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Patent expired July 6, 2021. This plant is in the public domain — anyone may propagate and sell it.
Twenty years from the filing date would end on April 10, 2021. This patent earned 87 days of term adjustment for delay at the Patent Office, which is why it runs longer.

The record
- Patent number
- PP13134
- Filed
- April 10, 2001
- Granted
- October 29, 2002
- Expires
- July 6, 2021
- Inventor
- ZAIGER CHRIS FLOYD; ZAIGER GARY NEIL; GARDNER LEITH MARIE; ZAIGER GRANT GENE
Abstract
A new and distinct variety of interspecific tree [plum×(plum×plumcot)]; the features of the tree and its fruit are characterized by the tree budded on ‘Nemaguard’ Rootstock (non-patented), grown on Handford sandy loam soil with Storie Index rating 95, in USDA Hardiness zone 9, near Modesto, Calif., and with standard commercial cultural fruit practices such as pruning, thinning, spraying, irrigation and fertilization. Its novelty consists of the following unique combination of features that are desirable in a new variety: 1. Heavy and regular production of large fruit. 2. Fruit with an attractive blue-black skin color. 3. Fruit with very good flavor and eating quality. 4. Fruit with high soluble solids, averaging 19.9° Brix. 5. Fruit with firm flesh, good handling and shipping quality.
Show the legal claimThe single numbered claim as granted — the legal text that defines what this patent covers.
We claim: 1. A new and distinct variety of interspecific tree, substantially as illustrated and described, being a regular and productive bearer of large, semi-freestone fruit with very good flavor and eating quality and, in comparison to the Interspecific tree ‘Flavorich’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,546) the fruit of the new variety is more rounded in shape, has a slightly waffled skin surface compared to smooth, and is approximately 10 to 12 days earlier in maturity.
Read the full patent: US Plant Patent PP13134 in full — the complete specification, every figure, and the file history.