Friday, November 23, 2007 UPOV system for protection of new plant varieties By Clint Fabiosa & Andrew Ong I.Protect
THE International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) established an internationally-recognized intellectual property system for the protection of new plant varieties.
Under the 1991 UPOV system, the exclusive rights granted to the inventor (referred to as the “breeder’s rights”) require the other party other than the owner of the breeder’s rights to receive breeder authorization to produce or reproduce the propagated plant variety and to market, import and export the protected variety.
To receive “breeder’s rights,” a breeder must produce a plant variety that is new, distinct, uniform and stable.
However, breeder authorization is not required in using the protected plant variety for non-commercial or experimental acts.
Under the system, each member-nation is allowed to restrict breeders’ rights in relation to any variety to allow farmers to use part of their harvest for subsequent plantings in their own land. This restriction should be in reasonable limits and subject to the safeguarding of the legitimate interests of the breeder.
