WIREDGOV

“World IP Day 2016 focuses on protecting the interests of those who create and innovate, like plant breeders, so that they can keep creating new improved plant varieties for everyone. Plant breeding - or developing new plant varieties - requires a substantial time (up to 15 years) and monetary investment. Without the potential revenue stream of royalties, there would be no incentive for breeders to develop new and improved varieties.

As the EU agency responsible for protecting EU IP plant variety rights, it’s the Community Plant Variety Office’s job to ensure that plant breeders can do theirs! Plant variety rights ensure that breeders get a fair return on their creations.

World IP Day is a fantastic opportunity to create awareness of the role the IP system has played and continues to play in improving our everyday lives.” Martin Ekvad, President of the CPVO.

The CPVO monitors and implements the largest system of plant intellectual property rights in the world, working closely with plant breeders organisations such as CIOPORA, ESA and PLANTUM. Here is what they have to say about World IP Day and the role intellectual property rights play in plant breeding: 

• Plant breeding is an innovation- and creation- based business, one that needs effective intellectual property protection to ensure that breeders can keep innovating and delivering new and better ornamental and fruit varieties to the society.” CIOPORA
• “The European seed industry supports the plant breeders’ rights system as the most suitable IP system to protect plant varieties and the interests of the general public at the same time, by ensuring a fair return on investment to breeders for their innovation and guaranteeing the continuous flow of improved plant varieties by safeguarding access to genetic variability through the so-called breeder’s exemption.” ESA
• “Plant breeding contributes significantly to making crop production more sustainable and diverse as well as ensuring global nutrition security. Plant breeders’ rights are the basis of the investments in breeding in order to provide such benefits for society.” Plantum

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