| Cj,
I understand your position and the usefullness of applying cultivar epithets to non-awarded plants. I can understand why you'd want to do this. To clarify, I wasn't stating anopinion on whether or not I thought non-awarded plants should be given cultivar names as much as I was laying out the reality of the situation. Cultivar names not given/registered resulting from an award are not binding. Someone who bought one of your plants and got it awarded could choose to keep your cultivar name if they wished but would be under no obligation to do so. The point is probably moot anyway because if the plant was a clone and the judges were aware of it, it would most likely not be awarded.
There's another ethical issue in play here and that is that people less knowledgable of such practices (givign cultivar names to non-awarded plants) might think that they're buying an awarded plant when they are not. I'm sure you're upfront about this when you sell your orchids but some are unfortunately not. Awarded plants, even clones are often more expensive (not always) and giving the impression that a plant is awarded when it is not could lead to other questionable practices. It's somethign orchidists should be mindful of.
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