Since enactment in 1970, the Plant Variety Protection Act had received relatively little attention until the litigation relating to the "saved seed" exception commenced in 1991. That case, Asgrow Seed Co. v. Winterboer, is before the U.S. Supreme Court with a decision expected some time in 1995.

The Congress has now passed and the President has signed legislation amending the 1970 act which reverses, statutorily, the U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Asgrow Seed Co. v. Winterboer and makes several other changes in the Plant Variety Protection Act.