Plant Variety & Bio Diversity

The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Act (PPV&FRA) came into force in the year 2001. This legislation has been enacted to develop an effective system for the protection of the rights of plant breeders and farmers. It also helps to give a fillip to the development of novel varieties. 
The Act gives effect to the signing of the TRIPS agreement by India. It grants IPRs to people who have invented any new or extant plant varieties. Further, the Biological Diversity Act was enacted in 2002 to protect India’s enormous natural wealth of ecosystems and habitats. 

Why do we need to protect the IPR related to plant varieties?
The legislation on the protection of plant varieties seeks to encourage the development of new varieties of plants and protect the rights of the plant breeders for the benefit of society.  
It provides the breeder exclusive control over the propagating material of a new variety whether it is in the form of seeds, cuttings, divisions, tissue culture or harvested material, cut flowers, fruit and foliage.
Further, the law debars a person who is not a breeder of a variety registered under this Act from selling, exporting, importing or producing such variety without the permission of its breeder. 

What all is included under Protection of Plant Varieties in Indian laws?
The PPV&FR Act seeks to safeguard the interests of plant breeders as well as farmers in the country. The Act underscores the need of recognizing and protecting these rights in regard to the contribution made by them in the conservation, improvement and the availability of Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) for the development of new varieties. 

The legislation aims to protect existing plant varieties, encourage the development of new ones and safeguard the rights of farmers, and plant breeders. Further, the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 was put into force to fulfill India’s commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) that aims at the conservation of biodiversity, a fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from traditional biological, genetic resources and knowledge, and their sustainable use. 

How Aneja and Aneja assists its clients in matters related with Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Act, 2001?

With our wealth of experience in matters concerning Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Act, 2001, we assist our clients with:

• Filing and prosecuting applications for registration of plant varieties ensuring that all pre-registration and post-registration formalities are complied with, including assignment and licensing issues, if any
• Filing and defending against, opposition proceedings
• •    Enforcement of rights and litigation proceedings, including the filing of infringement actions
• Post-registration maintenance: We take care of the renewal and restoration of rights
• Matters relating to the surrender/revocation of certificates, as well as actions to rectify and correct entries on the Plant Varieties Register
• Representation before the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, Plant Varieties Registry and Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal.
• In the biological diversity domain, the practice of Aneja and Aneja focuses on:
• Drafting, filing and handling applications seeking approval from the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) for access to biological resources and associated traditional knowledge, and applying for intellectual property protection
• Providing end to end services – from obtaining prior approval from the NBA to the enforcement of patent rights – for patent applications involving biological material obtained from India.
• We also assist our clients with managing, and attending to, pre-approval and post-approval proceedings and formalities including preparation and submission of half-yearly reports on the progress of research, bio-surveys and bio-utilization of biological resources.
• We draft and facilitate the execution of ‘Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS)’ agreements and obtain permits constituting Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCC). 
• We also represent our clients before the NBA and Expert Committee on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).