Exercising Rights of Crop Varieties According to UPOV Convention
Recently, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Vietnam in collaboration with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan, organised a seminar on “Exercising rights of plant varieties according to UPOV Convention.”
The UPOV Convention aims to ensure that all UPOV members accept the achievements of authors of new plant varieties as intellectual property rights based on the outlined principles.
Ms. Yolanda Huerta, a representative of UPOV, said, like all intellectual property rights, plant variety patents are certified for a certain period of validity and they belong to the society after protection period ends. Patent rights are controlled to prevent abuse and owners cannot claim interests from non-commercial use, scientific research and new plant creation. Upholding protection will encourage patent owners to develop new plant varieties to develop agriculture, forestry and horticulture.
10 years after joining UPOV, Vietnam has many scientific and technical achievements in creating and protecting new plant varieties. In the coming time when Vietnam joins many new agreements, the protection of new plant varieties under the UPOV Convention is a challenge, since it requires the Government to make a greater effort to do this work, said Mr. Peter Button, Deputy Secretary of UPOV.
Nguyen Thanh
Vietnamese
