European Community Plant Variety Protection

This book is intended as a practical guide to the European Community plant variety protection system under Council Regulation (EC) 2100/94. This system was introduced to enable breeders to protect in Europe new varieties of plants with a tailor-made intellectual property right. The plant breeding industry is an important sector in the European Community with an increasingly competitive atmosphere forcing breeders to protect their products and enforce their IP rights against competitors.

This book provides a systematic approach to the Community plant variety protection system. The authors explain how to obtain plant variety protection and how to enforce rights to that protection. They also consider various interpretations of the provisions of the Regulation as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

The book covers the only existing system protecting plant breeders' interests, and will be the only comprehensive up-to-date resource on Community Plant Variety Rights.

• Written by authoritative specialists in the field including the President of the Community Plant Variety Office
• Systematic explanation of the Community plant variety system and of the interrelation of plant variety rights with other IP rights, with guidance on the appropriate form of protection
• Covers enforcement under the Plant Variety Protection Regulation and under national laws
• Includes time-saving references for further information on national, Community and international plant variety protection and enforcement