As part of their treaty obligations in establishing International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), member countries have enacted laws that provide ‘‘Plant Breeders’ Rights’’ for protecting the breeding and commercialization of new plant varieties. Plant variety protection has become an increasingly important form of intellectual property because breeding new varieties can require a substantial investment of labor, material resources, money and time.

The opportunity to obtain exclusive intellectual property rights in new varieties gives plant breeders a better chance of recovering their costs and accumulating the funds necessary for further investment. Without IP, there would be little, if anything, to prevent others from propagating a breeder’s variety and selling it on a commercial scale without recognizing the work of the breeder.

Originally published in BNA’s Patent, Trademark & Copyright Journal on March 13, 2015.