Articles
PLANT BREEDERS’ RIGHTS FOR NEW FRUIT CULTIVARS
Article number
538_120
Pages
673 – 676
Language
Abstract
Plant breeders’ rights (PBR) is a private right similar to patents for industrial inventions.
It gives the breeder of a new cultivar the exclusive right to exploit his cultivar, and by this it encourages him to invest in plant breeding.
PBR can be applied to cultivars of all botanical genera and species including all fruit crops.
The conditions for the granting of PBR to a cultivar are that it is new, i.e. not commonly known before application, distinct by at least one characteristic from any other cultivar, uniform, stable and designated by a cultivar denomination.
Distinctness, uniformity and stability are tested in growing trials; in Germany pome and small fruit species at the testing station Wurzen (near Leipzig) and stone fruit species at Marquardt (near Potsdam). The tests are carried out according to guidelines established by the Technical Working Party for Fruit Crops of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). If the conditions required are fulfilled, PBR is granted.
In Germany the duration of PBR for cultivars of fruit tree species including rootstocks is 30 years, and for cultivars of small fruit species 25 years.
Recent developments are strengthening the rights of a plant breeder, provisions for essentially derived cultivars (e.g. mutants) and the introduction of a common European PBR scheme.
It gives the breeder of a new cultivar the exclusive right to exploit his cultivar, and by this it encourages him to invest in plant breeding.
PBR can be applied to cultivars of all botanical genera and species including all fruit crops.
The conditions for the granting of PBR to a cultivar are that it is new, i.e. not commonly known before application, distinct by at least one characteristic from any other cultivar, uniform, stable and designated by a cultivar denomination.
Distinctness, uniformity and stability are tested in growing trials; in Germany pome and small fruit species at the testing station Wurzen (near Leipzig) and stone fruit species at Marquardt (near Potsdam). The tests are carried out according to guidelines established by the Technical Working Party for Fruit Crops of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). If the conditions required are fulfilled, PBR is granted.
In Germany the duration of PBR for cultivars of fruit tree species including rootstocks is 30 years, and for cultivars of small fruit species 25 years.
Recent developments are strengthening the rights of a plant breeder, provisions for essentially derived cultivars (e.g. mutants) and the introduction of a common European PBR scheme.
Authors
J. Habben, E. Schulte
Keywords
plant breeders’ rights, cultivar, UPOV
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