UPOV Panel Discussion on Practices and Challenges in Enforcement of Plant Breeders’ Rights

Panel Discussion on Practices and Challenges in PBR Enforcement (February 5, 2025) (WIPO/ACE/17 side event)
It is easy to reproduce a plant variety, nature is a natural copying machine and the costs for multiplying plants are low. In addition, it is a challenge to differentiate between illegitimate and legitimate plant material and it is difficult to obtain evidence of infringing material.
To obtain the full benefit of the UPOV plant variety protection system it is necessary to have effective enforcement measures.
Effective enforcement of plant breeders’ rights (PBR) is essential in supporting innovation and the long-term investment of breeders’ in developing new plant varieties (e.g. around seven years for a wheat variety and 20 years for an apple variety).
Effective enforcement plays a key role in protecting all the stakeholders in the value chain that are investing on, or benefiting from, protected varieties (e.g. farmers, growers, exporters, food industry, consumers).
While the enforcement process is typically initiated by the right holder, cooperation with competent authorities is key for successful infringement cases. The UPOV Convention requires UPOV members to adopt the necessary measures to implement the Convention and to provide for appropriate legal remedies for the effective enforcement of breeders’ rights. UPOV guidance has been developed on the enforcement of breeders’ rights.
Prosecutors, customs officials, police specialized in agriculture, offices responsible for granting PBR or authorities regulating commerce of plant material, DNA laboratories, may also become involved in matters relevant for PBR enforcement.
In this context, the efficient collection, analysis, and use of evidence become critical components for determining infringements and achieving successful enforcement outcomes. Advances in technology are revolutionizing the way evidence is utilized, offering new possibilities for detecting infringements. While the use of DNA analysis in seeking preliminary remedies and in contributing to establishing infringements can be a very useful evidentiary tool, the use of "indicative/circumstantial evidence" could also raise concerns in early stages of the infringement proceedings (before conducting trial) and when taking a final decision on an infringement claim.
In addition to legal enforcement proceedings and cooperating with the relevant authorities, experience shows the advantages for breeders to work with end users and to invest in making farmers and growers understand the benefits that the creation of new high performing and resilient varieties can bring to their businesses.
This panel discussion will explore different experiences in relation to the infringement of plant breeders’ rights and will delve into the practices and challenges surrounding the role of authorities and right holders in enforcement procedures.
Objectives
1. Creating awareness of enforcement matters that are linked to the specific nature of plant varieties and the impact of lack of, or insufficient, effective PBR enforcement in the development of the agriculture or horticultural sectors.
2. Understanding the practical challenges in collecting and analyzing evidence for determining infringement.
3. Discuss the role of authorities in enforcement matters to prevent or stop an infringement of a breeder’s right, and/or to collect, analyze and preserve evidence (e.g. collect samples of infringing material from greenhouses).
4. Explore implications and effective measures to address non-compliance with provisions on, or misuse of, variety denominations.
5. Discuss what evidentiary tools are used to offer prima facie evidence of infringement in PBR cases and the role of molecular techniques and of markers that might be included in protected varieties.