1550
PUBLIC LAW 91-577-DEC. 24, 1970
[84 STAT.
Sec. 63. Initial AppeaL When an application for plant variety protection has been refused by the Plant Variety Protection Office, the applicant may appeal to the Secretary. The Secretary shall seek the advice of the Plant Variety Protection Board on all appeals, before deciding the appeal. Chapter 7.—APPEALS TO COURTS A N D OTHER REVIEW
28 USC app. 80 Stat. 622.
Sec. 71. Appeals. From the decisions made under sections 44, 63, 91, 92, and 128 appeal may, within sixty days or such further times as the Secretary allows, be taken under the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. The Court of Customs and Patent Appeals and United States Courts of Appeals shall have jurisdiction, with venue in the case of the latter as Stated in 28 U.S.C. 2343. Sec. 72. Civil Action Against Secretary. An applicant dissatisfied with a decision under section 63 or 91 of this title, may, as an alternative to appeal, have remedy by civil action against the Secretary in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Such action shall be commenced within sixty days after such decision or within such further time as the Secretary allows. The court may, in the case of review of a decision by the Secretary refusing plant variety protection, adjudge that such applicant is entitled to receive a certificate of plant variety protection for his variety as specified in his application as the facts of the case may appear, on compliance with the requirements of this Act. Sec. 73. Appeal or Civil Action in Contested Cases. (a) A party to a proceeding under section 92 of this title, dissatisfied with the decision, may take an appeal under section 71 or may have remedy by civil action if commenced within sixty days after such decision or within such further time as the Secretary allows. A party contemplating appeal as provided herein shall notify all adverse parties of his intention and any such adverse party, not the Secretary, shall have the right, by notice served within ten days of the notice to him, to elect that any review shall be by civil action. In such suits the record in the Plant Variety Protection Office shall be admitted on motion of any party upon the terms and conditions as to costs, expenses, and the further cross-examination of witnesses, as the court imposes, without prejudice to the right of the parties to take further testimony. The testimony and exhibits of the record in the Plant Variety Protection Office when admitted shall have the same effect as if originally taken and produced in the suit. (b) Such suit may be instituted against the party in interest as shown by the record of the Plant Variety Protection Office at the time of the decision complained of, but any party in interest may become a party to the action. If there be adverse parties residing in a plurality of districts not embraced within the same State, or an adverse party residing in a foreign country, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, or any United States district court to which it may transfer the case, shall have jurisdiction and may issue summons against the adverse parties directed to the marshal of any district in which any adverse party resides. Summons against adverse parties residing in foreign countries may be served by publication or otherwise as the court directs. The Secretary shall not be made a party but he shall have the right to intervene. Judgment of the court in favor of the right of an applicant to plant variety protection shall authorize the Secretary to issue a certificate of plant variety protection on the filing in the Plant Variety Protection Office of a
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