Plant Breeders’ Rights

Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) provides the developers of plant varieties with an opportunity to recover investment in research. The rights include the ability to charge a royalty and to control the sale of propagating material. Users who do not remit royalties or sell a protected variety for propagating purposes may be prosecuted by the holder of the right or their agent.”

What are Plant Breeders’ Rights?

The Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act allows the developers of new varieties to recover their investment in research and development by giving them control over the multiplication and sale of the reproductive material of a new variety. Like a copyright, it protects the unique qualities of the varieties and generally takes the form of a royalty being collected at the time the seed is sold. Plant breeding offers the single most cost-effective way to increase yields, market value, and disease resistance.

Why were these rights established?

Crop yields have increased dramatically over the past 60 years and the benefits of better quality and disease resistant crops go directly to producers. Plant breeding has also permitted the production of many crops that are not native to Canada and allowed the adaptation of other species to be extended.

PBR is one of the intellectual property protection tools used by the developers of new plant technology. It helps to encourage investment in plant breeding in Canada. Varietal protection is not new – countries such as the Netherlands and Germany have had similar laws since the 1940s and 50s. Their experience has been a dramatic increase in the development of new varieties which has made their agriculture sector more efficient and profitable.

When developers choose to use PBR, the new variety must be approved by the federal Plant Breeders’ Rights Office. The variety must also have the appropriate registration under the federal Seeds Act and Regulations to ensure it meets Canadian standards for quality and performance. When farmers purchase a protected variety, they are receiving a high quality product that has undergone extensive testing and has met government standards.

Because of the cost of research, the price of seed sold to farmers may be slightly higher. Farmers may save some production for seeding the following year on their own farm, but sales of the crop as seed for propagation purposes are not allowed.

The holder of the Right may pursue legal action to claim damages for infringement of the right.

Should someone fail to meet the conditions set out by the protected party, they are liable under the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act. According to the Act, the court may restrict the perpetrator from using the propagating material, dispose of any offending material, and order compensation for the plant breeder or his agent.

For more information

• Plant Breeders’ Rights Office
• Plant Breeders’ Rights Act 
• Plant Breeders’ Rights Regulations

CSTA and Plant Breeders’ Rights

• Position Paper, November, 2006
• CSTA Response to 2005 PBR Consultation

Backgrounder Documents

• What is Plant Breeding?
• Significant Accomplishments of Plant Breeding
• Plant Breeding’s Role
• Glossary of Patent Terms

Note to Plant Breeders’ Rights Holders

“Progress Through Research”, symbolizes a plant variety protected by PBR. The Plant Breeders’ Rights logo © is a registered certification mark of the Canadian Seed Trade Association. This logo may be used in association with the variety name to indicate that the variety is protected. Holders of a Canadian Plant Breeders’ Right may become a licensed user by contacting the CSTA office at csta@cdnseed.org to receive a copy of the agreement and “camera ready” materials.