Plant Breeders Rights
Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Procedures
Plant Breeder's Rights are exclusive commercial rights to a registered variety. The rights are a form of intellectual property, like patents and copyright, and are administered under the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994 (the Act). The rights are applied for using application forms available from IP Australia.
In relation to propagating material of the registered variety, successful applicants have exclusive rights to:
- produce or reproduce the material;
- condition the material for the purpose of propagation (conditioning includes cleaning, coating, sorting, packaging and grading);
- offer the material for sale;
- sell the material;
- import the material;
- export the material; and
- stock the material for any of the purposes described in (a) to (f).
In certain circumstances, principally if the breeder has not had a reasonable opportunity to exercise the right on the propagating material, PBR extends to harvested material and, subject to a similar set of qualifications, to products obtained from harvested material.
Exceptions to the breeder's right are the use of the variety privately and for non-commercial purposes, for experimental purposes, and for breeding other plant varieties. A variety can be used for these purposes irrespective of the existence of Plant Breeder's Rights. Farm saved seed is permitted, unless the crop is declared by regulation to be one to which farm saved seed does not apply.
Currently no crops have been declared in this way.
Further details of the scope of the rights can be found in the Act. Copies of the Act and the Regulations are available from Commonwealth Government book shops at a cost of approximately $8.00
Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) and Exclusive Marketing or Commercialisation Rights
Varieties protected by Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) cannot be free traded or exchanged farmer to farmer as with public varieties.
Varieties protected by PBR usually have the PBR symbol displayed after their name.
Where exclusive marketing rights of a variety exist, it is a commercial arrangement, not the PBR itself. Restrictions on farmer to farmer seed sales can also occur with varieties not covered by PBR, but under an exclusive marketing arrangement or "closed loop" market agreement.
Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) is a system of "copyrighting" plant varieties to record ownership of the genetic material. Registration of a variety under PBR is a means of protection against others taking that variety for their own seed sales and distribution. It is also a means for owners collecting royalties on seed sales or delivery of product.
Virtually all new varieties are protected by PBR on release, or have seed sales and marketing contracts which prevent farmer to farmer seed sales. For some older varieties, PBR has expired or been withdrawn.
Seed of a variety registered under PBR cannot be sold, exchanged, donated or traded without the permission of the owners or agents. Seed can, however, be retained for personal use unless a marketing contract separate to PBR prevents seed retention.
Usually a variety protected under PBR will only need to be purchased by a grower once, but the price paid for the initial purchase is unlikely to drop a few years after release as usually occurs with non PBR varieties.
Exclusive marketing rights of a variety is a commercial arrangement, not PBR = variety is protected by PBR.
Commonly asked questions
If I purchase PBR protected seed what are the typical limitations on the use of that seed?
There are no restrictions on the use of that particular batch of seed. Generally, the use of plant material produced by that seed is also free provided that it is not sold or conditioned as propagating material or contains propagating material exported to countries where PBR protection is not available. This means producers cannot sell/trade/barter/gift seed between themselves. If in doubt, you should approach the PBR grantee and determine whether their authorisation is required.
Can I keep PBR protected seed to sow on my own farm?
Yes. Seed may be kept for the producer to sow on their farm for their own usage. Subsequent seed (ie 2nd or later generations) or product from the later generations may not be sold/traded/bartered etc as propagating material without the grantees authorisation.