“Variety ” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, which grouping, irrespective of whether the conditions for the grant of a breeder’s right are fully met, can be :

“Variety ” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank, which grouping, irrespective of whether the conditions for the grant of a breeder’s right are fully met, can be :

• defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes,
• distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics and
• considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged

“Breeder” means :

• the person who bred, or discovered and developed, a variety,
• the person who is the employer of the aforementioned person or who has commissioned the latter’s work, where the laws of the relevant Contracting Party so provide, or
• the successor in title of the first or second aforementioned person, as the case may be

The breeder’s right shall be granted where the variety is:

NEW : The variety shall be deemed to be new if, at the date of filing of the application for a breeder’s right, propagating or harvested material of the variety has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the breeder, for purposes of exploitation of the variety

• in the territory of the Contracting Party in which the application has been filed earlier than one year before that date and
• in a territory other than that of the Contracting Party in which the application has been filed earlier than four years or, in the case of trees or of vines, earlier than six years before the said date.

DISTINCT : The variety shall be deemed to be distinct if it is clearly distinguishable from any other variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge at the time of the filing of the application. In particular, the filing of an application for the granting of a breeder’s right or for the entering of another variety in an official register of varieties, in any country, shall be deemed to render that other variety a matter of common knowledge from the date of the application, provided that the application leads to the granting of a breeder’s right or to the entering of the said other variety in the official register of varieties, as the case may be.

UNIFORM : The variety shall be deemed to be uniform if, subject to the variation that may be expected from the particular features of its propagation, it is sufficiently uniform in its relevant characteristics

STABLE : The variety shall be deemed to be stable if its relevant characteristics remain unchanged after repeated propagation or, in the case of a particular cycle of propagation, at the end of each such cycle.

The following acts in respect of the propagating material of the protected variety shall require the authorization of the breeder:

1. production or reproduction (multiplication),
2. conditioning for the purpose of propagation,
3. offering for sale,
4. selling or other marketing,
5. exporting,
6. importing,
7. stocking for any of the purposes mentioned in 1 to 6 above

The breeder may make his authorization subject to conditions and limitations.

Duration of the Breeder’s Right : The said period shall not be shorter than 20 years from the date of the grant of the breeder’s right. For trees and vines, the said period shall not be shorter than 25 years from the said date.

Source : upov.int