2011 CIOPORA Chronicle - the 50th Anniversary Edition

More documents

Info

RAI are still on the 78 Act including farmer’s privilege.” Leune foresees that a new UPOV convention will take a long while as it will be time consuming to gather all the member states.” Probably the best alternative is focusing on more national improvements in legislation to reach a higher protection level. However, the biggest challenge to be overcome is to have the ‘78’ members accepting the 91 Convention. That would be a important step forward.” Easier said than done While the examinations and audits are adversarial by nature, the RAI team of experienced professionals perform them in a discreet and calm manner. “We always have to be very careful. We are only human, like anyone else and can make mistakes but one of our top priorities is to exclude them by a well-prepared and structural approach”, says Leune. He continues, “We’re tracing back in continuation asking ourselves where the product is sourced from. This is not an easy job since you have to deal with mother stock plants and cuttings without flowers. When visiting the grower, we ask him the name of his supplier. If he is not willing to cooperate and gets angry, the alarm bells start ringing.” The transparency of the market makes the job easier. “In Holland it’s easy; if you want to know which variety is grown by which grower you just go to the auction and you’ll have all the information. But in countries such as Colombia, you need other tools, more creativity and a better network. In the end, we always find a solution. “Like in Colombia where we were denied access to the greenhouse. We looked for the final export destination of the flowers which was Miami. Having our own staff on both continents, it was quite easy to go to customs and to seize the counterfeited flowers.” Percentage of counterfeited ornamental It is often stated that around 5 to 9% of international trade is accounted for by counterfeited ornamentals (Source: FCI). “From research two years ago in the USA based on local company visits, involving checks on the correct naming of varieties, correct labelling, illegal propagation and underreporting, we were running to 17 to 18% of our visits which were incorrect,” speaks Leune from his own experience. He adds, “This percentage varies depending on which countries and crops.” When asked about the tools to avoid ‘green piracy’, Leune says he and his team are rather determined in their search for justice.”I agree, I never heard from cases in which a grower ended up in prison, though in some cases this would be possible. Also remind that the amount of piracy money is impressive. As soon as we find an infringement we get back to the breeder to propose different steps of action. This can be a personal visit to confront the grower with the situation followed by a legal letter. An accountancy control, official inspection, product seizure or court case are also possible. When asked if the RAI team enters the greenhouse door without knocking, Leune said. “We always stay friendly and explain the situation and then it depends of how the licensee reacts. If he kicks us out, you can guarantee that we will be back. Why should we use any violence, if we can opt for legal power instead. In that case we can rely upon our international network of lawyers.” CIOPORA Time now for a more festive mood with CIOPORA celebrating its golden jubilee this year. Leune offers his congratulations, “CIOPO- RA has meant a lot for the industry as a whole. It’s a lobby organisation approaching governmental people all over the world. As soon there is a renewal of national PBR legislation, CIOPORA tries to get involved and influence the law text. CIOPORA was involved in the first 1961 UPOV convention bringing in big influence. At the new conventions in 1978 and 1991 it was again CIOPORA which strongly involved in observation, changes and adjustments of the law text.” Leune describes CIOPORA as a very active organisation. “It has 123 members, however the world is big with many countries and many things occurring. This makes it not always easy to fully cover all events and activities. Lobbying is very time consuming and you always have to set priorities. CIOPORA is always present at UPOV meetings as an observer. Throughout its network, members are able to hear what are the latest developments in legislation.” More members CIOPORA offers good value for money, ensures Leune, “Lobby work always remains difficult to measure. The value of your money is not only the pure lobbying, CIOPORA is an important platform for discussion and the exchange of new ideas between stakeholders. The next best opportunity to meet industry professionals is CIOPORA’s annual meeting which is set to take place in Rome in the beginning of April. People should also know that CIOPORA comprises different working groups with focuses on biodiversity, PBR matters (EDV’s, DUS, minimum distances between varieties, technical guidelines, DNA fingerprinting), infringements and crop sections. Personally I have been involved in CIOPORA since 1996. From 1999 to 2005, I was president of CIOPORA.” Leune concludes, “I wish that CIOPORA had more members. More breeders should realise the good work this organisation has done and is currently doing. The more breeders, the stronger the voice of the sector, the more we can achieve.” ||| CIOPORA Chronicle April 2011 | www.CIOPORA.org 39
VONDST Advocaten congratulates CIOPORA on its 50th anniversary! The same in green? www.vondst-law.com Your innovation. Our passion. advocaten advocaten Vondst Vondst is a compact specialized law firm based in Amsterdam that deals exclusively with intellectual property law, ICT, pharmaceuticals & life sciences. Vondst knows IP Patents and technology, plant variety rights, trademarks, copyrights and product design. Vondst knows Horticulture We represent and assist a wide range of clients within the horticultural and agricultural sector including flower and seed breeders, growers, packaging companies and machine manufacturers. Our firm is a member of Plantum NL and CIOPORA. Vondst knows Plant Variety Rights We assist in maintaining, exploiting and enforcing PVRs in and outside the EU. We have extensive experience in litigation concerning the enforcement of PVRs, including cases involving essentially derived varieties (EDVs). We also advise and litigate about the granting of Dutch and Community PVRs, questions of variety naming and licensing issues. Find out more? Visit www.vondst-law.com or call +31 (0)20 5042000 and ask for Tjeerd Overdijk or Hidde Koenraad.
Page 1 and 2: March 2011 • www.ciopora.org The
Page 3 and 4: Your partner for sustainable growth
Page 5 and 6: April 2011 CIOPORA Chronicle 33 MEI
Page 7 and 8: About CIOPORA CIOPORA is the Intern
Page 9 and 10: Close relationships It is vital for
Page 11 and 12: Fleuroselect Nils Klemm, President
Page 13 and 14: Good relationship: Bilateral meetin
Page 15 and 16: Belgium The Belgian courts have rec
Page 17 and 18: Jurisdictions Furthermore, the cour
Page 19 and 20: the Working Group on Biochemical an
Page 21 and 22: Patents In the plant breeding world
Page 24 and 25: Patents their patent applications.
Page 26 and 27: Working Group The effective enforce
Page 28 and 29: Quo vadis? Breeders ask for clear a
Page 30 and 31: ISF On the occasion of CIOPORA’s
Page 32 and 33: Mexico 2007 Strassbourg, France 199
Page 34 and 35: Meilland Let’s get the facts stra
Page 36 and 37: AIPH AIPH, the International Associ
Page 38 and 39: naging hts flowers and plants that
Page 42 and 43: Fides Netherlandsbased Fides, a lea
Page 44 and 45: Birthday greetings CIOPORA Germany
Page 46 and 47: the Calibrachoa colour mix Trixi®
Page 48 and 49: S.B. Talee S.B. Talee, a leading br
Page 50 and 51: EUCARPIA Breeders rights are a good
Page 52 and 53: March 2011 • www.ciopora.org The

2011 CIOPORA Chronicle - the 50th Anniversary Edition

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?