Plant Breeders' Rights

New plant varieties are typically protected under plant breeders’ rights legislation which grants owners and breeders the sole right to propagate and sell protected varieties. Canada and more than 60 other countries in temperate zones throughout the world are signatories to an International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (the UPOV Convention), which provides for uniform plant breeders’ rights legislation in all member countries. Canada’s Plant Breeders’ Rights Act came into effect in 1990. The legislation stimulates plant breeding activities in Canada, provides Canadian producers with better access to foreign varieties and facilitates the protection of Canadian varieties in other countries.

The right to propagate and sell new varieties and sell the fruit of such varieties is generally licensed to growers, packers and marketers who pay the variety owner licensing fees and royalties for the rights granted to them.