Plant Breeders Rights - the process and considerations involved

摘要

At a meeting back in the 70s I recall the late Harry Wheatcroft launching a long, late night tirade against those rose growers who got hold of the varieties his firm had bred and introduced and who then propagated and sold them. Harry didn't get a penny. Fortunately today that situation need no longer apply providing a grower attains Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) using the Plant Varieties Act of 1997. Once a grower obtains PBR for a particular plant, no one else can legally propagate it for commercialsale in the UK. Such is the extent of the international trade in plants that it is common to apply for European Plant Variety Rights. There are similar schemes that apply to the USA and other countries.