Watermark

The Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) held a Symposium in Canberra on 8 June 2007 to mark the twentieth anniversary of plant breeder’s rights (PBR) in Australia. The Plant Variety Rights Act 1987 which came into effect on 1 May 1987 introduced the first scheme for the protection of new plant varieties in Australia and was succeeded by the current Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994.

The Symposium was an opportunity to reflect on the rationale for plant breeders rights in Australia, the successes and failures of the scheme and the future directions and challenges for the plant breeder's rights scheme including the overlap with patent rights. Issues of enforcement of plant breeder's rights in Australia were also discussed, a matter currently under reveiw by the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP).

The Symposium presented views and experiences from a range of perspectives including plant breeder's from various industries, government, research, academia and consultants to the plant breeding industry. From these presentations it is apparent that a comprehensive review of the scheme is required to address the controversial farm saved seed provisions of the Act and to address issues of enforcement, advances in technology in relation to assessment of the distinctiveness, and essential derivation and use of GMO's.
Amanda Jones