Tony

Kousa...Snapdragon is a very new variety. It is going to be a lot more than a few years before you will be able to grow it in your yard...legally at least.
It is bred from Honeycrisp and what little I've been able to find about it online suggests it isn't as good as Honeycrisp. SweeTango is another such variety also bred from HC and also a new club apple. I have tried it and it is fantastic.
Us homegrowers won't be growing it anytime soon either.

It can be released from this at any time the patent holder likes but I wouldn't hold my breath or hold off planting some other variety.

You are not starting with primarily DR varieties, only Goldrush, which resists scab but not cedar apple rust. Why are you leaning to another DR? Honeycrisp can be a very difficult apple to grow so it seems you plan to deal with some fungus adversity amongst other issues (like calcium deficiency). Not sure about Sweet 16, but it is not sold as a DR.

The idea of spreading your season is something I always like to run with. I recommend Zestar as an early variety, but if you like Macintosh type apples William's Pride is earlier and ripens over a very long period in mid to late summer. I'd say 3 to 4 weeks easy. Longest harvest period of any apple I manage. It is harder than Mac, and stays firmer in refrigeration but doesn't have that Mac crunch off the tree.

Not my favorite type of apple, but some people are crazy about it and it is one of the better early apples for sure.

Sweet Sixteen is supposed to be somewhat resistant to scab. I took some notes this past September and the SS's leaves were a bit better than average, compared to the other varieties I'm growing. That's pretty good, given that I've already screened out anything which was reputed to have issues.

If you really want to spread out the season, I think you'd need some really early apples. The Zestar I've gotten from a farmers market were great, but their season is pretty close to HC and SS (maybe 2 weeks before). William's Pride or Pristine would give you almost a month and both are pretty disease resistant (including Scab). I've held off on getting Zestar, as it is supposed to be scab-susceptible, but finally decided to add it- better apples, but 2 weeks after WP and Pristine.

H'man, I very much doubt the patent holder (Cornell, in this case) can release the patent any time they like. I'm fairly certain some language of exclusivity was contractually assured those who joined the syndicate. I would further think that that term would be, at minimum, the longest expected life of a block of commercial trees.
I did however hear Susan Brown mention homegrowers in the context of Snapdragon, but said nothing detailed. I suspect this was nothing more than blather to quiet the rift created by the legal issues surrounding their cartel. There was at least one class-action suit brought forth over it. It settled out of court I believe.

The article:
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2016256264_apussweetangoapplefight.html

I don't think any forum member besides you and me could possibly care one way or another, of course. I can just see fruitnut rolling his eyes.

I am sorry, Brad as I did not mean to hijack your thread.

You had it right...I was saying the patent holder couldn't cancel at any time because of contractual obligations. I don't think that point needs any reinforcing.

I posted this as a edit to my mention of a lawsuit in the original post and thought it might be interesting.

Sorry.

Why would fruitnut "roll his eyes"?

No comparison to the climate thread. That one was filled with commentary not at all related to fruit growing in any way and had long since ceased even being a debate. More a platform for one side of a hot political issue that actually violated the rules of the forum enough that it was removed.

The first time that's happened here for a very long time.