Cite as: 534 U. S. 124 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
ety setting forth its distinctiveness, uniformity and stability and a description of the genealogy and breeding procedure, when known." 7 U. S. C. § 2422(2). It also requires a deposit of seed in a public depository, § 2422(4), but neither the statute nor the applicable regulation mandates that such material be accessible to the general public during the term of the PVP certificate. See 7 CFR § 97.6 (2001).
Because of the more stringent requirements, utility patent holders receive greater rights of exclusion than holders of a PVP certificate. Most notably, there are no exemptions for research or saving seed under a utility patent. Additionally, although Congress increased the level of protection under the PVPA in 1994, a PVP certificate still does not grant the full range of protections afforded by a utility patent. For instance, a utility patent on an inbred plant line protects that line as well as all hybrids produced by crossing that inbred with another plant line. Similarly, the PVPA now protects "any variety whose production requires the repeated use of a protected variety." 7 U. S. C. § 2541(c)(3). Thus, one cannot use a protected plant variety to produce a hybrid for commercial sale. PVPA protection still falls short of a utility patent, however, because a breeder can use a plant that is protected by a PVP certificate to "develop" a new inbred line while he cannot use a plant patented under § 101 for such a purpose. See 7 U. S. C. § 2541(a)(4) (infringement includes "use [of] the variety in producing (as distinguished from developing) a hybrid or different variety therefrom"). See also H. R. Rep. No. 91-1605, p. 11 (1970); 1 D. Chisum, Patents § 1.05[2][d][i], p. 549 (2001).
For all of these reasons, it is clear that there is no "positive repugnancy" between the issuance of utility patents for plants and PVP coverage for plants. Radzanower v. Touche Ross & Co., 426 U. S. 148, 155 (1976). Nor can it be said that the two statutes "cannot mutually coexist." Ibid. Indeed, "when two statutes are capable of coexistence, it is the duty of the courts, absent a clearly expressed congressional inten-
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