International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants

International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants in the United States

Article I

(1) The purpose of this Convention is to recognise and to ensure to the breeder of a new plant variety, or to his successor in title, a right the content and the conditions of exercise of which are defined hereinafter.

(2) The States parties to this Convention, hereinafter referred to as member States of the Union, constitute a Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

(3) The seat of the Union and its permanent organs shall be at Geneva.

Article 2

(1) Each member State of the Union may recognise the right of the breeder provided for in this Convention by the grant either of a special title of protection or of a patent. Nevertheless, a member State of the Union whose national law admits of protection under both these forms may provide only one of them for one and the same botanical genus or species.

(2) For the purposes of this Convention, the word ” variety ” applies to any cultivar, clone, line, stock or hybrid which is capable of cultivation and which satisfies the provisions of subparagraphs (1)(c) and (d) of article 6.

Article 3

(1) Without prejudice to the rights specially provided for in this Convention, natural and legal persons resident or having their headquarters in one of the member States of the Union shall, in so far as the recognition and protection of the breeder’s right are concerned, enjoy in the other member States of the Union the same treatment as is accorded or may hereafter be accorded by the respective laws of such States to their own nationals, provided that such persons comply with the conditions and formalities imposed on such nationals.

(2) Nationals of member States of the Union not resident or having their headquarters in one of those States shall likewise enjoy the same rights provided that they fulfil such obligations as may be imposed on them for the purpose of enabling the new varieties which they have bred to be examined and the multiplication of such varieties to be controlled.

Article 4

(1) This Convention may be applied to all botanical genera and species.

(2) The member States of the Union undertake to adopt all measures necessary for the progressive application of the provisions of this Convention to the largest possible number of botanical genera and species.

(3) Each member State of the Union shall, on the entry into force of this Convention in its territory, apply the provisions of the Convention to at least five of the genera named in the list annexed to the Convention.
Each member State further undertakes to apply the said provisions to the other genera in the list, within the following periods from the date of the entry into force of the Convention in its territory:
(a) within three years, to at least two genera;
(b) within six years, to at least four genera;
(c) within eight years, to all the genera named in the list.

(4) Any member State of the Union protecting a genus or species not included in the list shall be entitled either to limit the benefit of such protection to the nationals of member States of the Union protecting the same genus or species and to natural and legal persons resident or having their headquarters in any of those States, or to extend the benefit of such protection to the nationals of other member States of the Union or to member States of the Paris Union for the Protection of Industrial Property and to natural and legal persons resident or having their headquarters in any of those States.

(5) Any member State of the Union may, on signing this Convention or on depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, declare that, with regard to the protection of new varieties of plants, it will apply articles 2 and 3 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

Article 5

(1) The effect of the right granted to the breeder of a new plant variety or his successor in title is that his prior authorisation shall be required for the production, for purposes of commercial marketing, of the reproductive or vegetative propagating material, as such, of the new variety, and for the offering for sale or marketing of such material. Vegetative propagating material shall be deemed to include whole plants. The breeder’s right shall extend to ornamental plants or parts thereof normally marketed for purposes other than propagation when they are used commercially as propagating material in the production of ornamental plants or cut flowers.

(2) The authorisation given by the breeder or his successor in title may be made subject to such conditions as he may specify.

(3) Authorisation by the breeder or his successor in title shall not be required either for the utilisation of the new variety as an initial source of variation for the purpose of creating other new varieties or for the marketing of such varieties. Such authorisation shall be required, however, when the repeated use of the new variety is necessary for the commercial production of another variety.

(4) Any member State of the Union may, either under its own law or by means of special agreements under article 29, grant to breeders, in respect of certain botanical genera or species, a more extensive right than that set out in paragraph (1) of this article, extending in particular to the marketed product. A member State of the Union which grants such a right may limit the benefit of it to the nationals of member States of the Union which grant an identical right and to natural and legal persons resident or having their headquarters in any of those States.

Article 6

(1) The breeder of a new variety or his successor in title shall benefit from the protection provided for in this Convention when the following conditions are satisfied :

(a) Whatever may be the origin, artificial or natural, of the initial variation from which it has resulted, the new variety must be clearly distinguishable by one or more important characteristics from any other variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge at the time when protection is applied for. Common knowledge may be established by reference to various factors such as : cultivation or marketing already in progress, entry in an official register of varieties already made or in the course of being made, inclusion in a reference collection or a precise description in a publication.
A new variety may be defined and distinguished by morphological or physiological characteristics. In all cases, such characteristics must be capable of precise description and recognition.

(b) The fact that a variety has been entered in trials, or has been submitted for registration or entered in an official register, shall not prejudice the breeder of such variety or his successor in title.
At the time of the application for protection in a member State of the Union, the new variety must not have been offered for sale or marketed, with the agreement of the breeder or his successor in title, in the territory of that State, or for longer than four years in the territory of any other State.

(c) The new variety must be sufficiently homogeneous, having regard to the particular features of its sexual reproduction or vegetative propagation.

(d) The new variety must be stable in its essential characteristics, that is to say, it must remain true to its description after repeated reproduction or propagation or, where the breeder has defined a particular cycle of reproduction or multiplication, at the end of each cycle.

(e) The new variety shall be given a denomination in accordance with the provisions of article 13.

(2) Provided that the breeder or his successor in title shall have complied with the formalities provided for by the national law of each country, including the payment of fees, the grant of protection in respect of a new variety mav not be made subject to conditions other than those set forth above.


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