Protecting Fruit: The Role of Illustrations and the Law
The Need for Protection
In the mid-19th century, the United States experienced a boom in fruit cultivation and trade. However, the lack of patent protection for living organisms left fruit innovators vulnerable to theft and fraud. Unscrupulous nurserymen and tree peddlers would often sell inferior stock as valuable varieties, or take cuttings from prized trees and propagate them illegally.
The Role of Illustrations
To address this problem, fruit growers and nurserymen turned to illustrations to accurately identify and document their varieties. Hand-colored chromolithographs, produced using a complex printing technique, became particularly popular. These illustrations provided a more vivid and detailed representation of fruits than traditional black-and-white lithographs.
Artists like William Sharp and Joseph Prestele played a crucial role in creating these illustrations. Their meticulous attention to botanical detail and use of bright colors made their work both aesthetically pleasing and scientifically accurate.
The Development of Pomological Societies and Catalogs
To further protect fruit innovators, nurserymen established pomological societies and published catalogs featuring illustrations of their varieties. The American Pomological Society, founded in 1848, aimed to provide a reliable body of information about fruit provenance, characteristics, and names.
Nursery catalogs, such as Dellon Marcus Dewey’s “The Colored Fruit Book,” included hand-colored prints that allowed customers to visualize the fruits they were purchasing. These catalogs also served as advertising tools, helping nurserymen promote their new varieties.
The Quest for Intellectual Property Protection
Despite the efforts of pomological societies and nurserymen, colored illustrations alone could not fully protect fruit innovators’ intellectual property. Recognizing the need for a more formal system of registration, some fruit men called for the creation of a national plant register.
In 1886, the Department of Agriculture established a division of pomology that included a catalog of fruits and employed artists to paint watercolor illustrations of novel varieties. This de facto registration system provided some protection, but it lacked the legal force of a patent.
The Plant Patent Act of 1930
After years of lobbying, Congress passed the Plant Patent Act in 1930. This landmark legislation authorized patents for “distinct and new varieties” of plants, including most fruit trees and vines. It required applicants to submit drawings of their products, further emphasizing the role of illustrations in protecting intellectual property.
The Legacy of Fruit Illustrations
The Plant Patent Act laid the foundation for the extension of intellectual property protection to all organisms other than humans. However, the act also paid homage to the past by requiring plant patentees to submit drawings, closing the circle between fruit illustrations and the protection of living things.
Today, the vast collection of fruit illustrations created by artists like Sharp, Prestele, and others serves as a valuable historical record of the development of American fruit cultivation. Their work not only protected the intellectual property of fruit innovators but also contributed to the advancement of botanical art.