64. Volume 10- Number 2 - IP Australia

PLANT VARIETIES JOURNAL 1997 VOL 10 NO. 2
Part 1 – General Information
Objections
Formal objections to applications can be lodged by a
person who:
a) considers their commercial interests would be
affected by a grant of PBR to the applicant; and
b) considers that the applicant will not be able to fulfil
all the conditions for the grant of PBR to the variety.
A person submitting a formal objection must provide
supporting evidence to substantiate the claim. A copy of the
submission will also be sent to the applicant and the latter
will be asked to show why the objection should not be
upheld.
A fee of $100 is payable at the time of lodging a formal
objection and $75/hour will be charged if the examination
of the objection by the PBR office takes more than 2 hours.
Comments. Any person may make comment on the
eligibility of any application for PBR. The comment is
considered confidential. There is no charge for this. If the
comment is soundly based the person may be requested to
lodge a formal objection.
All formal objections and comments must be lodged with
the Registrar not later than six months after the date the
description of the variety is published in this journal.
Applying For Plant Breeders
Rights
Applications are accepted from the original breeder of a
new variety (from the employer if the breeder is an
employee) or from a person who has acquired ownership
from the original breeder. Overseas breeders need to
appoint an agent to represent their interests in Australia.
Interested parties should contact the PBR office and an
accredited Qualified Person (Appendix 3) experienced in
the plant species in question.
Requirement to Supply
Comparative Varieties
Once an application has been accepted by the PBR office, it
is covered by provisional protection. Also it immediately
becomes a ‘variety of common knowledge’ and thus may be
required by others as a comparator for their applications
with a higher application number.
Applicants are reminded that they are required to release
propagative material for comparative testing provided that
the material is used for no other purpose and all material
relating to the variety is returned when the trial is complete.
The expenses incurred in the provision of material for
comparative trials is borne by those conducting the trials.
As the variety is already under provisional protection, any
use outside the conditions outlined above would qualify as
an infringement and would be dealt with under section 53
of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act.
Applicants having difficulties procuring varieties for use in
comparative trials are urged to contact the PBR office
immediately.
UPOV Developments
Paraguay joined The Union for the Protection of New
Varieties of Plants (UPOV), in February 1997, to become its
32nd member. However, the 1991 Act of the UPOV
Convention is still to come into force requiring a further two
countries to lodge instruments of accession. Denmark,
Israel and The Netherlands acceded in 1996 and it is
expected that others will shortly follow. The addresses of
Plant Variety Protection offices in UPOV member states are
listed in Appendix 5.
Instructions to Authors
Role and importance of the description
The main roles of the descriptions are to provide public
notice that a grant of PBR to a particular variety is imminent,
to fulfil the examination requirements of the Act and to
register the official and legal description of a variety. The
description is also the immediate reference for all legal and
technical requirements under PBR for twenty or more years.
Consequently, an accurate and complete description of a
new variety in the correct format is essential in ensuring the
smooth progress of an application and the validity of the
subsequent grant. The need to rectify incomplete and poorly
formatted descriptions causes frustration for QP’s (and PBR
staff) and may lead to delays in publication, and therefore,
the granting of rights. Before submitting a Part 2 application
please ensure all relevant information is included and that
the technical accuracy of the descriptions has been checked.
A complete Part 2 application consists of the following;
• the first page of the Part 2 form and certification by a
qualified person completed and signed.
• a long (legal) description – the full text description,
together with information on the origin and
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