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May 23, 2004

trademarked, patented shrubbery

As I'm planting my front yard, I'm doing a lot of research on various plants and trees. One tree that caught my eye for one spot is this River Birch. But the wacky thing about it is that the name is a registered trademark and it also carries this warning "Propagation of this plant is prohibited due to patent protection."

Patented garden plants? I suddenly had visions of a sci-fi future where Johnny Appleseed works for Monsanto, and you're not allowed to eat the apples or graft new trees since it's all copyrighted, patented, and trademarked up the wazoo.

I think I'll get a different tree for that spot.

Posted at May 23, 2004 09:45 AM