Since stimulating plant breeding was considered beneficial for society, ‘sui generis’ systems were developed in different countries, which create benefits for breeders and farmers compared to the patent system. In Plant Breeder’s Rights, any breeder is allowed to use a protected variety for further breeding, and farmers are allowed (depending on the national law) to reproduce the seed for their own or non-commercial use. Several national Plant Breeder’s Rights laws were harmonised by the Convention of the Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in 1961, the membership of which has been growing steadily since the TRIPs Agreement. UPOV renamed the rights Plant Variety Protection (PVP).

Click here for more details about the differences between patent and UPOV systems. The page also includes an assignment.