Plant Breeder's Rights in Ukraine
In accordance with the Law of Ukraine on Protection of Rights on Plant Varieties upon plant breeder's rights registration there may occur the following rights:
- personal non-property rights on plant variety;
- the intellectual property rights on plant variety;
- the intellectual property rights to distribute the plant variety.
As the evidence of the above-indicated rights on plant variety acts the Certificate about the authorship on plant variety, the Patent on the plant variety and the Certificate of state registration of plant variety correspondingly.
Required Documents
For plant breeder's rights registration in Ukraine the following documents should be filed with the Ministry for Development of Economy, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine:
- application form for the plant variety, containing general information as for the variety as well as about the breeder(s), applicant(s), representative, etc.;
- technical questionnaire, containing detailed information about the variety characteristics, method of propagation of the variety, indexes of distinctness of the variety from similar variety(ies), special conditions for growing the variety, main use of the variety, breeding scheme, information on plant material to be examined, etc.;
- copy of the priority application, if any;
- indices for ascertainment for a suitability of each specific variety to be used in Ukraine;
- Power of Attorney, that should be signed and stamped by the applicant and also legalized by notary and be consulate legalization or Apostille;
- document of evidence of the applicant's right for application filling if the applicant and the breeder are not the same;
- photographs of the plant and its organs, which indicates the variety main characteristics.
Besides, in some cases the State Service on Right Protection for Plant Varieties may request additional documents for registration of the plant variety.
Plant Variety Registration Procedure in Ukraine
The plant variety registration procedure in Ukraine is the following:
After completion of the filing procedure the application undergoes formal examination for at least 3-6 months. On condition that the applicant submits all required documents the notification about positive results of the formal examination is issued and the application data is published in the Official Bulletin.
After the formal examination is completed the application materials and experimental samples are transferred to the Institute of Examination of Plant Varieties for substantive examination. The samples should be delivered to the Institute before March 1 for the spring crops, and before August 1 for the winter crops. The substantive examination includes the following steps:
1) examination of novelty of the variety (a variety shall be considered novel if, prior to the date on which the application is considered to have been filed, the applicant (breeder) or other person with his permission has not sold or transferred by any other method the material of the variety for commercial use: on the territory of Ukraine – one year prior to this date; on the territory of another State – in relation to timber, shrubs and vines for six years and, as regards other types of plants, four years prior to this date. Article 11, Law of Ukraine on the Protection of Plant Variety Rights);
2) examination of the denomination of the variety;
3) compliance of the variety with the criteria of distinctness, uniformity and stability;
4) examination on suitability for distribution of the plant variety.
In case of the positive result of the substantive examination and after payment of the Registration fee both Patent on plant variety and the Certificate of state registration of plant variety are issued.
If the variety does not meet the requirement of novelty, but the positive result of the substantive examination is issued based on the rest of the requirements of patentability, the applicant obtains the Certificate of state registration of plant variety.
Our company would be pleased to provide services on plant varieties registration in Ukraine. For further information in respect of the above-mentioned issues, please feel free to contact us.
