harveyc

Just an update on an item related to the Gold Nugget variety also discussed in this thread. In Benny's post he quotes information from UCR that indicates Gold Nugget is not patent (this is included in UCR's patent filing information on Tango). Joe later says Gold Nugget is patented. I've been communicating via e-mail with some of the folks at CCPP and UCR regarding this issue as it was unclear why budwood could not be ordered. After they checked with others, they finally got back to me to inform me that Gold Nugget is indeed not patented but that it is property of UCR and only distributed under a license agreement which forbids propagation without holding a license agreement and paying the required royalties. I've let them know that the Gold Nugget I purchased at a retail location there was no tag on the Gold Nugget trees to indicate this restriction. License agreements can live on indefinitely whereas patents expire after 20 years. I'm sometimes surprised we don't see more of these in use.

I still haven't seen any retail sources for Tango (originally mistakenly typed Gold Nugget until Brett pointed out the confusion) trees in NorCal. FourWinds still does not show it available but a friend who operates a retail nursery and who has been looking forward to offering it was told it would be available next year. My tree purchased a year ago has some small fruits on it but I don't know if it will hold onto them or not.

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