SOUTH AFRICA

• INTERNATIONAL TREATIES TO WHICH SOUTH AFRICA IS SIGNATORY

  • International Treaties to which South Africa  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. TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE – International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
    3. CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY And BIO SAFETY.
    4. CARTAGENA PROTOCOL on Bio Safety
    5. NAGOYA PROTOCOL on Access and Benefit Sharing & Liability and Redress. South Africa is not a member for 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.

     

• PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS LEGISLATION

  • Plant Breeders Rights in South Africa are protected by: Plant Breeders Rights Act 1997

• PLANT VARIETIES PROTECTED AS PER PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS

  • New Varieties designated by means of a denomination proposed by the applicant and approved by the Registrar.

• PLANT VARIETIES NOT PROTECTED AS PER PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS>

  • The Act does not protect the denomination given to such variety, if the:

    1. applications for the grant of protection are not in conformity with the Act
    2. applied variety does not belong to a prescribed kind of plant
    3. applicant is not entitled to make an application iv. application is mis-represented v. application infringes rights of an existing PBR holder
    4. applicant fails to propose an acceptable denomination
    5. propagation of the applied variety requires repeated usage of the propagating material of another variety to which plant breeders rights have been grantedParityPatents Law Firms through its Attorney and Law Firms in South Africa is at hand to help you with PBR protection and registration.
• WHO MAY APPLY FOR PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS

  • Applicants who may seek protection under the Act:

    1. Individual Breeders
    2. Breeding Institutions
    3. Successors – in – title
    4. Agents on behalf of the owner
• FILING REQUIREMENTS AS PER PLANT BREEDERS PROTECTION ACT SOUTH AFRICA

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

    • Prescribed application fee along with documents
    • An address for service within South Africa
    • Priority details if any
    • Denomination of the proposed variety
• EXAMINATION PROCESS AND GRANT OF PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS
  • • Upon receipt of the application, it is formally examined to confirm compliance with all the requisites.
    • Upon application being compliant, it is published .
    • Post publication and before grant of registration, interested third parties may file their opinion / objections challenging the grant of plant variety registration within a prescribed time limit.
    • The application is once again examined for compliances and no dues by the Registrar along with subjecting it to substantial examination through trials and tests as necessary.
    • There being no objections or objections successfully overcome by the application, the Registrar to grant registration to the applied variety.
• BASICS REGARDING PROTECTION OF PLANT BREEDERS RIGHTS

  • The Act protects New Plant Varieties which are:

    • Novel
    • Distinct
    • Uniform
    • Stable
    • Designated by proper denominations
• RIGHTS OF OWNERS AS PER PLANT BREEDERS PROTECTION ACT

  • Duration of Registration:

    1. Vines and Trees – 25 yrs. from the date of grant of registration.
    2. All other varieties – 20 yrs. from the date of grant of registration.Owners of the registered plant variety may undertake:  
    • Production and Reproduction
    • Conditioning for the purposes of propagation
    • Sale or any other form of marketing
    • Exporting and Importing
    • Stocking for all  or any of the above acts Concerning the registered plant variety.

     

• COMPULSORY LICENCE PROVISIONS AS PER PBR PROTECTION ACT

  • Compulsory licenses are granted when the Plants Breeders Rights holder :

    1. Unreasonably refuses a license to the person seeking license or
    2. Imposes unreasonable conditions for the issue of licenseParityPatents along with specialised Patent Lawyers and Patent Attorneys in South Africa, can assist you comprehensively with PBR Compulsory Licence matters.
• Cost of Registration in SOUTH AFRICA

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

    contact@paritypatent.com