American Oat Workers Code of Ethics for Germplasm Exchange   Preamble  
In past decades, oat workers worldwide have generously shared their oat germplasm with colleagues to enhance oat breeding and research. However, plant variety protection and patent mechanisms focus attention on proprietary rights afforded developers/owners of germplasm materials. The purpose of this code is to encourage the continued exchange of oat germplasm by recognizing these rights and by codifying the obligations of persons receiving unreleased oat germplasm.  This following code was approved by the members of the American Oat Workers Conference, Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 22, 1994.

 

Code

• The originating breeder, station, or company has property rights to unreleased oat germplasm such as pure lines, early generation lines or populations, bulk populations, breeding stocks, or genetic stocks. These rights are not waived with the distribution of seeds or plants of any of these unreleased materials. In this context, "released" materials include named cultivars or breeding or genetic stocks described in an official statement of release.

 
• The owner/breeder, in distributing seeds or plant materials of unreleased oat germplasm, grants permission for their use: (1) in performance tests under the recipient's control, such as the USDA Uniform Early and Uniform Midseason Oat Performance Nurseries, the Eastern or Western Canadian Cooperative Pre-registration Trials, or any national or International oat disease nurseries; and (2) as parents for making crosses for use in basic research or for selection leading to the development of cultivars. Uses of unreleased germplasm for which written approval from the owner/breeder is required include: selecting from the stock; induction of mutations through tissue culture or other means; insertion of recombinant DNA; use in backcrosses for addition of a gene(s) controlling a specific trait; testing in outlying nurseries not coordinated by USDA or Agriculture Canada; use as parents in commercial F₁ hybrids or as components in synthetic or multiline cultivars; or seed increase and release as a cultivar.

 
• The recipient of unreleased seeds or plant material shall make no secondary distribution of the germplasm without the permission of the owner/breeder.

 
• The recipient of unreleased materials shall take precautions to prevent unauthorized transfer or theft of seed of these materials from nurseries or seed inventories.

 
• The owner/breeder of unreleased oat germplasm stocks may waive, in writing, any of the above restrictions, or may impose additional restrictions.

 
• Retention and use of the germplasm accompanying this statement indicates your agreement with the policies set forth in this statement.

 For further information please contact Dr. Deon Stuthman, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108 (Tel. 612-625-3709).
 

 
 

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