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Further reading
Plant Breeders' Rights
Plant Breeders' Rights offers legal protection for the investment plant breeders make in breeding and developing new varieties. This service is open to breeders of any species of plant; agricultural, horticultural and ornamental.
Breeders can choose whether or not to apply for plant breeders' rights, which enable them to charge royalties for protected varieties. Royalties provide a means for breeding companies to fund their work.
A general Information Guide to Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR) is available. However, for full compliance with PBR procedures you should always refer to the appropriate Regulations (see information guide ). Also available is a more detailed booklet: Guide to the Plant Varieties Act 1997.
Plant Breeders' Rights are a form of intellectual property designed specifically to protect new varieties of plants. They entitle the holder to prevent anyone doing the following acts to propagating material without authority:
- production or reproduction (multiplication)
- selling or other marketing
- conditioning for the purpose of propagation
- offering for sale
- exporting/importing
- stocking for any of the purposes mentioned above
- any other act that may be prescribed by the provisions of the Plant Varieties Act 1997
If you hold the rights you may authorise others to carry out these acts on whatever terms and conditions you wish to impose, subject to the safeguard of compulsory licencing.
Rights may also extend to harvested material obtained from the unauthorised use of propagating material, but only where the holder has not had reasonable opportunity to exercise rights. Plant Breeders' Rights do not extend to any act done for private and non-commercial purposes, for experimental purposes or for the purpose of breeding another variety.
As a holder of PBR you also have the above rights for any variety which is dependent on the protected variety such as hybrid or an essentially derived variety.
- Information guide to Plant Breeders' Rights (PDF 120 KB)
- Guide to Plant Varieties Act 1997 (PDF 250 KB)
- Guide to applying for a compulsory licence
- What rights are there for Hybrids and Essentially Derived varieties?
PVS Customer Survey
The results of the 2008-2009 customer survey have been published.
Fees
Details of the fees for Plant Breeders Rights and National List applications are available. The fees for Plant Breeders' Rights and National Listing of agricultural and vegetable species came into force on 29 May 2006. The fees for Plant Breeders' Rights of ornamental species came into force on 1 September 2006.