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Have you bred a superior, disease‐resistant plant? Or developed a variety with exceptional vigour and consistently predictable outcomes? If you’re breeding unique plant varieties, it’s crucial to ensure that only you can commercially benefit from your innovation.
Plant Breeders’ Rights empower growers to secure exclusive rights to sell, export, or propagate their unique varieties.
Plant Breeders’ Rights are a specialised form of Intellectual Property that enables you to market your registered plant variety with exclusive rights for up to 20 years – a duration that remains effective and highly relevant in 2025.
Why Do I Need Plant Breeders’ Rights?
In today’s competitive agricultural landscape, protecting your innovation is essential. Plant Breeders’ Rights give you a significant competitive advantage by ensuring you’re the sole supplier of your customised plant variety for a set period, helping you capture and maintain market share.
Registering your right gives you the ability to:
- Produce or reproduce the plant variety
- Condition (clean, coat, sort, package and grade) the material for propagation
- Sell the plant variety as a product
- Export the material
- License the rights to reputable partners
How Do I Register Plant Breeders’ Rights?
To register Plant Breeders’ Rights in 2025, you’ll need to follow these updated steps:
- Conduct a Plant Breeders’ Rights search to ensure your variety is novel.
- Confirm you meet the requisite time limits. You can only apply if the plant variety has been commercialised in Australia for less than 12 months – this period, known as the ‘eligible sales period’, remains firmly in place for 2025.
- File Part 1 of your application by providing your details, comprehensive information about the plant variety and its origin, and an initial case for eligibility.
- Nominate a qualified person – typically an expert in your specific plant group – to support your application.
- Conduct a growing trial in collaboration with your qualified person to secure provisional protection for your plant variety.
- File Part 2 of your application to obtain full and ongoing protection.
It’s worth noting that regulatory guidelines and fee structures have been updated for 2025. If you need assistance navigating these requirements, our team at Sprintlaw can help ensure you meet all deadlines and regulatory benchmarks efficiently.
How Do I Use Plant Breeders’ Rights?
Plant Breeders’ Rights form an essential part of your Intellectual Property strategy. They can be used alongside other forms of protection, such as patents and trademarks, to secure every facet of your plant variety. For example, pairing these rights with trademark registration can further safeguard your brand – learn more about this on our IP Guide and our article on Protecting Your IP With a Trade Mark.
Once you register your plant variety, the protection covers the propagating material and extends to any essentially derived varieties – those that share all the essential characteristics of the original and may qualify for their own registration.
Need Help?
Applying for Plant Breeders’ Rights can seem daunting, given the number of steps involved and evolving regulatory requirements in 2025.
Our highly experienced Intellectual Property lawyers are here to guide you every step of the way, ensuring your new plant varieties are protected according to the latest legal standards. We also offer expert advice on broader business set up matters – check out our insights on business set up and related legal services.
Contact us at team@sprintlaw.com.au or call 1800 730 617 to get expert assistance in protecting your plant variety. In the meantime, keep your invention on the down low and enjoy the benefits of your hard work!
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