S. 5104

112 S5104 IS: Fair Seeds for Farmers Act
 U.S. Senate
 2026-07-23
 text/xml
 EN
 Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
 II  119th CONGRESS  2d Session  S. 5104  IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES   July 23, 2026   Ms. Warren  (for herself,  Mr. Booker , and  Mr. Welch ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the  Committee on the Judiciary    A BILL
To amend the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act to limit intellectual property protection for plants, and for other purposes.
1.
Short title
This Act may be cited as the   Fair Seeds for Farmers Act  .
2.
Limitation on intellectual property protection for plants
(a)
In general
The Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ( Public Law 112–29 ; 125 Stat. 284) is amended—
(1)
in section 33 ( 35 U.S.C. 101  note;  Public Law 112–29 ), in the section heading, by inserting before the period at the end the following:
for human organisms  ; and
(2)
by inserting after section 33 ( 35 U.S.C. 101  note;  Public Law 112–29 ) the following:
33A.
Limitation on intellectual property protection for plants
(a)
Definitions
In this section:
(1)
Germplasm
The term  germplasm  means plant material capable of propagation, including seeds, pollen, tubers, or rootstock for use in breeding, conservation, or research.
(2)
Plant variety
The term  plant variety —
(A)
means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank that can be defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes, distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least 1 characteristic and considered as a unit with regard to the suitability of the plant grouping for being propagated unchanged; and
(B)
may be represented by seed, transplants, plants, tubers, tissue culture plantlets, or other matter.
(b)
Limitation
(1)
In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law—
(A)
no protection may be provided under any Federal law with respect to a plant, plant variety, or plant germplasm, except pursuant to a law described in subsection (c); and
(B)
no contractual obligation or agreement that may be allowable under a law described in subsection (c) that limits the use of a plant, plant variety, plant germplasm, or other biological material for research, breeding, experimentation, seed saving, or propagation may be enforced.
(2)
Application
(A)
In general
Paragraph (1) shall apply to—
(i)
any application for a patent that is pending on, or filed on or after, the date of enactment of this section; and
(ii)
any contractual obligation or agreement entered into on or after the date of enactment of this section.
(B)
Prior applications
Paragraph (1) shall not affect the validity of any patent issued on an application to which subparagraph (A) does not apply.
(c)
Laws described
The laws described in this subsection are the following:
(1)
The Plant Variety Protection Act ( 7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq. ).
(2)
 Chapter 15  of title 35, United States Code (commonly known as the  Plant Patent Act of 1930 ).
 .
(b)
Clerical amendment
The table of contents in section 1(b) of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ( Public Law 112–29 ) is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 33 the following:
Sec. 33A. Limitation on intellectual property protection for plants.
  .