---
kind: "section"
citation: "7 U.S.C. § 2542"
title: "7"
title_heading: "Agriculture"
number: "2542"
heading: "Grandfather clause"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/7/2542"
units:
  - "Chapter 57 — Plant Variety Protection"
  - "Subchapter III — Plant Variety Protection and Rights"
  - "Part K — Infringement of Plant Variety Protection"
---

# §2542. Grandfather clause


Nothing in this chapter shall abridge the right of any [person](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-1), or the successor in interest of the [person](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-1), to reproduce or sell a [variety](/usc/7/2401.md?p=a-10) developed and produced by such [person](/usc/7/499a.md?p=b-1) more than one year prior to the effective filing date of an adverse application for a certificate of plant [variety](/usc/7/2401.md?p=a-10) protection.


## Source credit

(Pub. L. 91–577, title III, § 112, Dec. 24, 1970, 84 Stat. 1555; Pub. L. 103–349, § 13(r), Oct. 6, 1994, 108 Stat. 3144.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–349 substituted “the successor in interest of the person” for “his successor in interest”.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 1994 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 103–349 effective 180 days after Oct. 6, 1994, see section 15 of Pub. L. 103–349, set out as a note under section 2401 of this title.