Plant breeders right for new plant varieties

Who is eligible for plant breeder’s rights?

If you have bred a new plant variety or if you are a representative or an agent for a plant breeder, you may apply for plant breeder’s right for that new variety. If you are situated in another country than Sweden, you must have a representative or an agent situated in Sweden. You can apply for a Swedish plant breeder’s right by submitting the application form to the right to the Swedish Board of Agriculture. You may apply for an European plant breeders right. You´ll find more information how to apply to the right.

In UPVO:s database you may find varieties with plant breeders right in EU and in countries outside EU.

What is plant breeders right?

Plant breeder's right means that only the person who has the right may reproduce, process, market, import or export the variety. No one else may store the variety with the aim to reproduce it. Whoever has the plant breeder’s right may charge others who use the variety.

A variety, protected by plant breeder's right, may be used freely for research, experimentation and as starting materials for the production of new varieties.

The Swedish plant breeder’s right is valid in Sweden and the EU plant breeder’s right is valid throughout the EU. One cannot have a Swedish plant breeder’s right and an EU plant breeder’s right for the same variety at the same time. A plant breeder’s right may be issued for all plant species.

What is required to get a plant breeder's right for a variety?

For a variety to be protected, the variety must be examined for its characteristics.

During the technical examination the variety must be found clearly distinguishable from other known varieties. It is called that the variety is distinct. The variety must also be sufficiently uniform and after repeatedly propagation it should be stable. In addition, the variety must be new.

Seed or other products from the variety may not have been sold or given away in Sweden more than a year before the application for the plant breeder’s right was submitted. For other countries, the time limit is four years before the application was submitted in Sweden. For varieties of grapevines and trees, the time limit is no more than six years.

For the variety to be protected, it must have an approved denomination. You may find the application form to the right.

For how long is a plant breeder's right valid?

The Swedish plant breeder's right is valid for 25 years from the year the decision became final. For potatoes, trees and grapevines the plant breeder’s right is valid for 30 years. Plant breeder's right cannot be renewed or extended, as the variety by then is no longer a new variety.