Plant breeders' rights protection / Plant patent protection

What can Hortis Legal do for you?

We will assess whether your new plant variety satisfies the requirements that apply to plant variety rights. Primarily, the variety must be unique and distinctive as well as homogenous and stable. If so, we will assist you during the application process. This includes drawing up a description of the plant variety. Once the application is filed, a research institution will conduct what is known as a DUS investigation: Distinct, sufficiently Uniform and Stable. This will take some time.

Once the plant variety rights are granted, we still have work to do: our attention will turn to the management and validity of your rights. To maintain plant variety rights, duties must be paid annually. If you fail to pay, your plant variety rights lapse. To prevent this, we monitor terms and ensure that the annual duties are paid. We will also take care of the correspondence involved with your plant variety rights. If you discover that someone else is infringing your plant variety rights and unlawfully growing or propagating plant material, you can also turn to us. We will take immediate action.

I would like to contact Hortis Legal now about plant breeders' rights protection / plant patent protection

Back ground info

Hortis Legal is active in the ornamental sector since 1997. We also are a well-known company in the agricultural sector. An all-round specialist, and that is something we are proud of!

Are you a breeder and did you develop of discover a new variety?
Do you need help with plant variety right applications in one of the 74 UPOV countries?
Are you a grower and is someone accusing you of infringement?
Are you a plant variety right title holder and do you suspect infringement?
Do you have a trading nursery and would you like to know if a variety is protected? And if so, what you can and cannot do?
Are you in a licence agreement as either a licensee or a licensor and do you need to have your contract checked out? Or would you like a contract that is legally correct but also has the necessary know how put into it?

We are experts when it comes to Plant Variety Rights and everything that comes with that. We can, and will, advice you in the widest sense. Every step of the way.

related services

Our specialists in the plant breeders' law practice group have years of experience in advising on and applying for international plant breeders' rights, including Dutch plant breeders' rights, EU breeders' rights, plant breeders' rights applications in all UPOV member states and US Plant patent applications. We arrange for plant breeders' protection of new varieties for our clients in more than 45 countries.

As other services we can also mention:

  Searches for plant breeders' protection of a variety or crop group indicated by you (scope of search: all UPOV member states)
  Search for plant breeders' protection of a batch indicated by you (scope of search: all UPOV member states)
  Market research into a variety or crop group indicated by you
  Acting against infringers on a plant breeders' right
  Drafting standard test and licensing contracts (supplied as digital standard document in the format that you can use at your own company)