Can you cross the same two cultivars as a patented apple and sell it with your own name?

So what if they lost a “ton of profits”? They had no equitable right to any profits past the patent expiration date. They made a lot of money, as have many growers, for what is a mediocre apple.

This thread is not about your obsession with the Honeycrisp trademark, nor is it about your greed.

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Finding a honeycrisp that requires very low chill would be nice. Same for many other apple varieties.

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Honeycrisp didn’t need to be marketed. The name is captivating for people, so they key into it instantly. If it had been called Blandeycrunch, I guarantee the marketers would have had their work cut out for them. It’s the power of suggestion. Kind of the apple equivalent of “it tastes like chicken”

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That is a lot of fruit names in my experience. Bubblegum plum as a nickname for Toka, Candy heart Pluerry, sweet treat Pluerry, fruit punch Pluerry, jellybean blueberry, pink icing blueberry, sweetheart cherry, etc. The list can go on and on these. So many of these are described like sweets too. Mountain Rose apple is described as fruit punch or cotton Candy, pink lemonade blueberries are described as tasting like lemonade etc. some fruit does get extremely sweet but I would call some of that stuff a stretch.

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The patent expiration lets anybody reproduce the plant. The trademark, the Hallmark of marketing, remains their property. You are welcome to take any apple with an expired patent, call it whatever you want, and sell it commercially, as long as you don’t infringe on an existing trademark.

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That was my understanding. I think trademarks last for life but have to be constantly defended. Patents only last 20 years at least for now and because of Disney copyright lasts 95 years of the life of the creator plus 50 years. The trademark is why the mountain rose apple is sold by so many different names. He too thought if he had to market it he should get a profit despite it being an apple just found somewhere. It makes buying a tree very confusing though. Issue with trademark is trademark has to be constantly defended or you risk losing it. That is why Nintendo is known to be so big on controlling what is put out on their video games for example. They are worried about their trademarks going away.

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Yes, you’re right. All those arguing are partly right. It’s like "knockout’ roses…they’ll fine a garden center for selling ‘knockout’ plants in a plain ole black pot for instance. So, yep, the trademark and other restrictive agreements can have monetary consequences.

For Honeycrisp, like CosmicCrisp, they could come after someone at a market selling ‘CosmicCrisp’ if they didn’t buy the rights to do so.

But, sometimes it’s not cost effective to enforce your rights. And sometimes they’re very protective no matter the cost benefit or lack of it.