Legal Provisions of the Development of "New Plant Varieties"(UPOV & TRIPS)

Abstract

New creations, innovations and discoveries are the foundation of intellectual property rights, leveraging societal status. One recent intellectual creation is that of "new plant varieties". The development contains a large degree of innovation, qualifying the genre for legal protection under intellectual property laws. There are many ways to provide protection for the genre, such as the patent system, a special individualized system, or by a mixed system of both. Therefore, this paper focuses on the legal provisions in the development of "new plant varieties" under the 1961 International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and the 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).