The applicant may be:
Varieties of plants that will be protected will have demonstrated that they are:
The Canadian Plant Breeders' Rights Act makes it possible for plant breeders to legally protect new varieties of plants. Plant varieties, both sexually and asexually reproduced, may be covered under the legislation for a period of up to 18 years. All plant species, except algae, bacteria and fungi, are eligible for protection.
The owner of a new variety who receives a 'Grant of Rights' has exclusive rights over the use of the variety, and is able to protect their new variety from exploitation by others. The intent of the legislation is to stimulate plant breeding in Canada, to provide Canadian producers with better access to foreign varieties and to facilitate the protection of Canadian varieties in other countries.
The holder of a plant breeders' right has the exclusive right to:
Any of these acts undertaken by an unauthorized person constitutes an infringement of the holder's rights.
A plant breeders' right will remain in force so long as the holder of the rights pays the annual fee. The fee must be paid annually on the anniversary of the date the rights were granted.
A person committing any of these offences is liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to $5 000. A person convicted on indictment for an offence may be fined up to $15 000 and/or jailed for up to three five years. For any of the offences listed, a corporation is liable to a fine of up to $25 000 on summary conviction and to a fine at the discretion of the court on conviction on indictment.
For more details and forms, please visit the Web site or contact the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Plant Breeders' Rights Office.
DISCLAIMER
Information contained in this section is of a general nature only and is not intended to constitute advice for any specific fact situation. For particular questions, the users are invited to contact their lawyer. For additional information, see contact(s) listed below.
Quebec Contact(s):
See National Contact.