BULGARIA

• INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO WHICH BULGARIA IS SIGNATORY

  • International Treaties to which Bulgaria is signatory for the protection of Plant Breeders Rights.

    1. SEED TREATY OR PLANT TREATY – ITPGRFA – The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture.
    2. CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY.
    3. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE – International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
    4. CARTAGENA PROTOCOL on Bio Safety
    5. NAGOYA PROTOCOL on Access and Benefit Sharing & Liability and Redress. 
    6. SANITARY & PHYTOSANITARY MEASURES, TECHNICAL BARRIERS to TRADE AGREEMENT – TBT & SPS
    7. INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS – UPOV.
    8. European Union Community Plant Varieties.
• PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS LEGISLATION

  • Plant Breeders Rights in Bulgaria are protected by:

    1. Plant Breeders Rights Protection
    2. Biological Diversity Act
    3. The Patent Regime
• PLANT VARIETIES PROTECTED AS PER PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS

  • Protection accorded by PBR:

    1. Essentially Derived Varieties
    2. New Plant Varieties
    3. Varieties Created, Discovered, Developed
    4. Clones, Lines, Hybrids, Rootstocks v. Varieties not distinct
    5. Varieties whose production requires repeated use of the protected variety
• PLANT VARIETIES NOT PROTECTED AS PER PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS>

  • The Act does not protect denominations given to such varieties, if they are :

    1. Not different from existing denominations.
    2. Misleading regarding the features, nature, identity of the proposed variety and the breeder
    3. Likely to infringe upon prior rights of third parties to a similar variety.

    ParityPatents Law Firms through its Attorney and Law Firms in Bulgaria is at hand to help you with PBR protection and registration.

     

• WHO MAY APPLY FOR PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS
  • • Breeders i.e., Creators or Joint Creators of the variety
    • Assignees
    • Employers
• FILING REQUIREMENTS AS PER PLANT BREEDERS PROTECTION ACT BULGARIA

  • Application made for protection under the Act to contain the following requisites:

    • Request for grant of certificate
    • Details of the Breeder and Applicant
    • Description of the variety
    • Proposal for denomination of the variety
    • Completed technical questionnaire as set out
    • Power Of Attorney where application is filed through a patent attorney or agent
    • Proof of payment
    • Priority details if any
    • such other particulars (if any) as  required by the authorities.
• EXAMINATION PROCESS AND GRANT OF PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS
  • • Upon receipt of the application, it is submitted to a Preliminary and Substantive examination.
    • The application is examined for compliance with formality requirements and regularity of the application along with documents.
    • Compliance of denomination as per requisites.
    • Application is published post preliminary examination.
    • Substantial examination is then carried out to determine registrability of the variety.
    • During substantial examination, the authorities may carry out their own tests, rely on tests carried out by such other institutions.
    • Application meeting all the requirements is then granted registration and Plant Breeders Rights.
• BASICS REGARDING PROTECTION OF PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS

  • The Act protects New Plant Varieties which are:

    • New
    • Distinct
    • Homogenous
    • Stable
• RIGHTS OF OWNERS AS PER PLANT BREEDERS PROTECTION ACT

  • Duration of Registration:

    1. 25 yrs. – for all other varieties
    2. 30 yrs. – for trees and vines

    Owners of the registered plant variety may undertake:

    • Production and Multiplication of the propagating material
    • Conditioning the propagating material for the purposes of propagation
    • Sale, Market, Export, Import the material
    • Assign, Sell, Transfer the material to other parties
    • Stock the propagating material for all of the above acts
• COMPULSORY LICENCE PROVISIONS AS PER PBR PROTECTION ACT

  • Compulsory Licenses: are issued to any person upon request if the following conditions exist:

    • The plant variety is not in use for 5 yrs. from the date of application or 3 yrs. from the date of grant of certificate.
    • Plant Variety not used satisfactorily to fulfil national needs, social necessities within prescribed time frame without legal justification by the owner.
    • The registered Plant Variety helps overcome national emergencies.

    Service Licenses: are ordered only in cases of emergency to fulfil: National Defence and Security requirements. – Upon specific requests by the Ministry of Defence or Ministry of Internal Affairs.

    Special Treatment: In extreme cases involving national defence and security and social health care, the Authorities notify a list of limited number of varieties that cannot be distributed or used freely without special authorisation.

    ParityPatents along with specialised Patent Lawyers and Patent Attorneys in Bulgaria, can assist you comprehensively with PBR Compulsory Licence matters.

• Cost of Registration in BULGARIA

  • Please write a mail for cost of registration of Plant Variety Protection in Bulgaria to the mail address given below:

    contact@paritypatent.com