Re: Summit Hop Rhizomes
Greetings from The American Dwarf Hop Association (ADHA)
As the owner of the Summit Hop patent, we at the ADHA frequently monitor Internet discussions that are centered on Summit Hops, whether it be questions on availability, brewing practices and of course any action that maybe detrimental to the longevity of our intellectual property.
The ADHA Hop Breeding program, to date, has generated one new cultivar for use in the public hop programs. This single cultivar (Summit) required many years of plant crosses, germination of more than 200,000 seeds and evaluation of disease and pest resistance on all just to get a single new cultivar. The manpower, greenhouses, lab time and land prep has cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There are two ways to recoup expenses to help defer the cost of providing new varieties to the Brewing Community. The most common method is to keep tight control of rhizomes, grant access to no others, have a single point of entry to the market and charge the highest price the market will absorb. Or you can do as the ADHA has chosen, that is to provide rhizomes to Hop Growers and Processor Agreements to reputable Merchants via a license mechanism. We believe that the Grower/Processor method is in the best interest of the Brewing Community
.Greater availability and the lowest sustainable cost.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f92/summit-rhizomes-162543/index11.html
I can see from your current HomeBrewTalk.com thread that each of you are aware that you have been put in harms way by a Hop Merchant who has no legal access to Summit Rhizomes. This Merchant knowingly delivered to you patented plant materials without considering the effects of the legal ramifications of possessing these plant materials.
We have exhausted attempts to reach a mutually acceptable resolution with the Merchant in question but at this time the next steps are in the hands of our Legal Council.
At this time we are asking for your assistance in limiting the damages to our program by returning all Summit rhizomes to the ADHA. We are aware that you to have a financial investment for which shipping costs and replacement rhizomes (free trade/no patented plants) should be made available to those who choose to help.
Please feel free to contact me directly
Leslie Roy
Managing Partner ADHA
[email protected]