I have some of these, they're quite neat. Needs to be in proper darkness - we moved ours into our bedroom as a nightlight.
The company has made statements indicating propagating for personal use is OK.
The company has made statements indicating propagating for personal use is OK.
Corn mazes are actually created by selectively planing the corn in a pattern or by selectively cutting down plants to create the maze. This can be done with a variety of different plants, but corn is a popular choice because of it's height, durability, and the timing of its harvest.
I suspect the similarity of its other name (maize) is just a coincidence.
It's a novel invention and no one needs glowing petunias. I think that's pretty much the ideal scenario for a patent.
Also, exerting control over a commercial cloning effort and trying to control personal use and propagation are totally different scenarios.
The reality is their business is just not going to be substantially hurt by personal propagation and use.
Practically? Unless you gift it to a thousand "friends", they're unlikely to a) hear of it, b) care about it, or c) break even on the legal costs of going after it.
No one's putting in decades of R&D into something like this if they can only sell a few thousand for a single year before the big nurseries take over.
We have the USDA for these things. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/news/program-update/aphis-issues-...
> APHIS found this modified petunia is unlikely to pose an increased plant pest risk compared to other cultivated petunia. As a result, it is not subject to regulation under 7 CFR part 340. From a plant pest risk perspective, this petunia may be safely grown and bred in the United States.
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ido/oeip/taf/data/patde...
The seeds are hit-or-miss, but the genes definitely get passed on in some.