An Overview of Plant Breeders' Rights (PBR) Intellectual Property Protection
Plant Breeders鈥� Rights (PBR) are a form of intellectual property rights (IPR) which allow plant breeders to protect their new plant varieties. Conceptually similar to other forms of IPR鈥檚 the overall policy of objective of PBR is to stimulate investment and innovation, and to encourage the dissemination of those innovations to the public, thereby benefitting society. To be eligible to obtain Plant Breeders鈥� rights in Canada, a variety must be new, distinct, uniform and stable (NDUS). Once granted, the breeder receives exclusive rights (a monopoly) over the propagating material of their variety for a period of 25 years for tree or vine varieties, and 20 years for all other varieties. These exclusive rights include the right to sell, produce and reproduce, import and export propagating material of the variety as well as the right to authorize others to do the same. Once the period of protection ends, the variety is considered 鈥減ublic domain鈥�, and available without restrictions.
The event will be held virtually over Zoom.
About the Speaker
Anthony Parker
Anthony Parker is the Commissioner of the Plant Breeders' Rights Office for Canada, and since 2012 is also Canada鈥檚 head of delegation to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). In October 2022, Anthony was elected Vice President of UPOV for a three year term. Anthony holds a Master of Science degree (M.Sc.), specializing in plant breeding and genetics as well as a Master of Laws (LLM), specializing in intellectual property law.