Technical/Regional Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean, Leontino Taveira, speaking to members of the audience at the event.
From left, Senior Co-ordinator – Intellectual Property, Science and Technology Issues at the Office of Trade Negotiation, CARICOM Secretariat, Malcolm Spence, answering questions, while Senior Agriculture Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Ian Gibbs, looks on.
The Department of Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property (Barbados) hosted a consultation on the Protection of New Plant Varieties headed by The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) at Christ Church Conference room, BAOBAB Tower, Warrens last Friday morning.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is an intergovernmental organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, which seeks to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.
The UPOV has 74 members which includes countries such as Australia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, and the Dominican Republic to name a few.
Speaking at the consultation, UPOV Technical/Regional Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean Leontino Taveira explained, “A Plant breeder is someone who discovers and develops a plant variety. Breeders are always on the lookout for new and exciting varieties.”
He stated, “If you would like to become a member of UPOV it is very important to have a legislature in place and this legislature must be equivalent to the UPOV convention. The UPOV convention provides the basis for UPOV members to encourage plant breeding by granting breeders of new plant varieties an intellectual property right, which is called the breeder’s right.”
It was further noted that, “Under the UPOV Convention the breeder’s right is only granted where the variety is new, distinct, uniform, stable and has a suitable denomination.” He continued, “You cannot go into the woods collect a plant and file for protection of something that’s unchanged from it’s existing occurring natural state, it has to be something new. UPOV does not reward existing things, it rewards innovation.”
He added, “To join UPOV the payment is US$10 000 per year, the government may decide to establish which level of payment it wishes. This money is used to pay the salaries of the secretariat and to maintain infrastructure of the building, in return you receive services such as training etc.”