- Act on Plant Variety Rights 21.8.1992/789 (Unofficial translation)(Amendments up to 2000/651 included; Amendments 2005/76 and 2005/306 not included )
- Chapter 1 – General provisions
- Chapter 2 – Conditions for granting plant variety rights
- Chapter 3 – Scope of protection
- Section 6 – Protection provided by plant variety rights
- Section 6a – Scope of plant variety rights
- Section 6b – Exceptions to plant variety rights
- Section 6c – Right to grow a protected variety and duty to pay remuneration for it
- Section 6d – Duty to provide variety cultivation data
- Section 6e – Exhaustion of plant variety rights
- Section 7 – Ornamental plants
- Section 8 – (repealed)
- Chapter 4 – Registration application and its processing
- Section 9 – Registration authority
- Section 10 – Registration application
- Section 11 – Variety denomination
- Section 12 – Priority right period
- Section 13 – Remedying defects
- Section 14 – Refusing applications
- Section 15 – Claim for a better right
- Section 16 – Transferring applications
- Section 17 – Publication of application
- Section 18 – Examination of varieties
- Section 19 – Decisions on applications
- Section 20 – Registration of plant variety rights
- Chapter 5 – Duration of plant variety rights and using and amending variety denominations
- Chapter 6 – Licences, compulsory licences and entries in the register
- Chapter 7 – Termination of plant variety rights
- Chapter 8 – Private law protection
- Chapter 9 – Penal provisions
- Chapter 10 – Miscellaneous provisions
Act on Plant Variety Rights 21.8.1992/789 (Unofficial translation)
(Amendments up to 2000/651 included; Amendments 2005/76 and 2005/306 not included )
Chapter 1
General provisions
Section 1 – Plant variety rights
The breeder of a plant variety or anyone to whom the breeder’s variety rights have been assigned (variety holder) may register exclusive right to professional exploitation of the variety as provided in this Act.
Section 2 has been repealed (5.3.1999/238).
Chapter 2
Conditions for granting plant variety rights
Section 3 – Conditions concerning breeders
A breeder’s right to a plant variety may be granted to:
1) a person who has bred the variety in Finland;
2) a breeder who is a citizen of a member country of the international UPOV union founded to protect new plant varieties, hereinafter referred to as ‘the union’;
3) a breeder with registered offices within the territory of a union member country;
4) a breeder who is a citizen of a member country of the World Trade Organization, hereinafter referred to as ‘the organization’;
5) a breeder who has registered offices within the territory of an organization member country;
6) anyone to whom the right granted in accordance with paragraphs 1-5 has been assigned. (238/1999)
What is provided above in subsection 1 also applies to applicants for plant variety rights who have discovered a variety and developed it further, including those to whom their rights have been assigned. (238/1999)
Section 4 – Conditions concerning varieties
Plant variety rights may only be granted for a variety:
1) that can be clearly distinguished from other varieties which have become commonly known before submission of the application or, if a priority right has been requested for the application prior to this date, before the date as of which a priority right is requested for the application; (238/1999)
2) that is sufficiently uniform; and
3) whose essential characteristics are stable when propagated in the manner proposed by the breeder.
Section 5 – Novelty requirement
Plant variety rights may be granted if propagated of harvested material of the variety has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the variety holder, for purposes of exploitation of the variety: (238/1999)
1) in this country earlier than one year before the application has been filed or, if a priority right has been requested for the application, earlier than one year before the date as of which a priority right is requested for the application; (238/1999)
2) abroad earlier than six years before the application has been filed or in the case of a vine, fruit tree, forest tree, ornamental tree or their rootstock; or
3) abroad earlier than four years before the application is filed if the plant in question is other than those referred to in paragraph 2.
Chapter 3
Scope of protection
Section 6 – Protection provided by plant variety rights (238/1999)
Without the variety holder’s consent, no party other than the holder of the variety is allowed to:
1) produce propagating material for the variety;
2) condition the variety’s propagating material the purpose of propagation;
3) offer the variety’s propagating material for sale;
4) sell or otherwise market the variety’s propagating material;
5) export the variety’s propagating material from Finland;
6) import the variety’s propagating material to Finland; and
7) stock the variety’s propagating material for any of the purposes listed above.
If the variety holder has not had reasonable opportunity to exercise his/her rights in relation to the propagating material, the acts referred to in subsection 1 in respect of harvested material of the protected variety, including entire plants and parts of plants, require the authorization of the variety holder.
Section 6a – Scope of plant variety rights (238/1999)
The variety holder’s rights prescribed above in section 6 also apply to:
1) plants that are not clearly distinguishable from registered varieties;
2) varieties which are essentially derived from the protected variety (derived varieties), where the protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety; and
3) varieties that can be produced only by repeated use of a protected variety (hybrids).
Section 6b – Exceptions to plant variety rights (238/1999)
Plant variety rights do not restrict the use of a variety:
1) privately for other than commercial purposes;
2) for experimental purposes; or
3) for breeding or discovering and developing other varieties.
Subject to the conditions laid down in section 6c, farmers have the right to sow the seed of a variety produced by them on their own farms.
Section 6c – Right to grow a protected variety and duty to pay remuneration for it (238/1999)
By paying a remuneration, farmers obtain the right to use harvested crops of plants covered by the legal protection referred to in this Act, not including hybrids, for propagation purposes on their own farms. This right applies only to cultivation of the varieties of the following plant species: oats, barley, rye, wheat, triticale, rape, colza, seed flax, pea, broad bean, potato and buckwheat.
The remuneration payable must be substantially lower than the royalty payable for the licensed production of propagating material. A contract may be made between the variety holder and the farmer or between organizations representing them on an equitable remuneration payable to the variety holder. Where such contract has been concluded or does not apply, the farmer has the duty to pay to the variety holder a remuneration of 50 per cent of the sum payable for the licensed production of propagating material.
Farmers who possess an arable area of less than 10 hectares are entitled to use the propagating material of a protected variety in the manner referred to in paragraph 1 without paying remuneration. However, remuneration must be paid in the case of a protected potato variety if the cultivation area of the variety is larger than 2 hectares or if the area of early potato cultivated under covering is larger than 1 hectare.
Section 6d – Duty to provide variety cultivation data (238/1999)
Farmers and those preparing propagating material are required to provide on request any data required by the authorities and the variety holder to establish the duty to pay remuneration.
Section 6e – Exhaustion of plant variety rights (238/1999)
Plant variety rights do not extend to acts concerning any material of protected varieties or plants referred to in section 6a, which has been sold or otherwise marketed by the holder or with the holder’s consent in any state within the European free trade area unless such acts involve: