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Plant Breeders Rights
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41st MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 41st meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held in Brisbane on 24 August 2007. The Committee was briefed by the Plant Breeder’s Rights Office on the current number of filings and work loads. The Committee discussed the issue of PBR enforcement with the Secretariat of the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property. The Committee’s investigation into the issues relating to the extension of duration of PBR protection progressed. It considered and adopted a draft discussion paper and assessment framework. It intends to release these in November 2007 after obtaining and incorporating feedback from key stakeholders. The Committee discussed the interaction of trade marks and plant variety names. Official Notice: New Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee member 40th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 40th meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at Discovery House, Woden, Canberra on 7 March 2007. Mr Mark Porter resigned from the Committee. The Committee was briefed by:
It noted that filings had returned to normal from the historical lows of summer 2006. The Committee's investigation into the issues relating to the extension of duration of PBR protection progressed. It considered a draft issues paper, which it intends to release in mid 2007. The Committee commenced a process of identifying issues that it may consider in future. As part of this process it was briefed on market research, commissioned by IP Australia, into the filing behaviour of PBR applicants. 39th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 39th meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at Discovery House, Woden, Canberra on 31 October 2006. This was the first meeting of the new Committee appointed by the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Hon Ian Macfarlane MP. The members of the new Committee are:
The Committee received a formal request from Mr Macfarlane to investigate the issues in relation to the extension of duration of PBR protection generally, and advise him regarding an extension to the duration of protection for potatoes in particular. A Sub-Committee comprising Professor Sherman, Dr Dale and Ms Pye has been formed to progress this issue. The Committee recommended Australia's continued participation at UPOV Council, Committee and Technical Working Party meetings. The Committee congratulated the Registrar of Plant Breeder's Rights, Mr Waterhouse, on his election as President of the Council of UPOV at the 40th Ordinary Session of the Council held in Geneva on 19 October 2006. The term of Mr Waterhouse's presidency is three years. The Committee was briefed on the progress being made by the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property in its current review into the enforcement of PBR. The Committee noted with concern that filings of PBR applications for 2006-07 were comparable to the depressed pro-rata numbers received in 2005-2006. The Committee discussed various possible reasons for the low number of applications including the ongoing drought and marketing issues. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Hon Bob Baldwin MP, met with the Committee at Parliament House and discussed issues in relation to PBR protected seed. 38th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 38th meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at Discovery House, Woden, Canberra on 15 March 2006. The Committee congratulated the Hon Bob Baldwin MP on his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources and thanked the Hon Warren Entsch for his interest in PBR whilst he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources. The Committee discussed and recommended technical and administrative amendments to the Plant Breeder's Rights Act including refining criteria for application acceptance; and clarification of wording. The Committee recommended, in principle, the transfer of machinery and auxiliary provisions from the Plant Breeder's Rights Act into the Plant Breeder's Rights Regulations. The Committee discussed possible policy formulations for guidelines for considering the extension of duration of protection for certain taxa. The Committee also recommended Australia's continued participation at UPOV Council, Committee and Technical Working Party meetings. The Committee noted the recent judgement of the full bench of the Federal Court in Cultivaust Pty Limited v Grain Pool Pty Limited [2005] FCAFC 223. The Committee confirmed that this case widely promoted the accepted understanding of enforceable royalties associated with PBR. The Committee noted with concern that a study of PBR filings for 2006 indicated that forward estimates for total applications were down approximately 30% for the year. The Committee discussed various possible reasons for the drop in applications, including market and procedural issues. The Committee noted that applications will soon be invited from interested persons with appropriate qualifications and experience to serve on the Committee. Advertisements should appear in major newspapers and on IP Australia's website in April 2006. 37th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 37th meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at the Kurrajong Hotel, Canberra on 8 September 2005. Pursuant to the Committee’s May 2005 recommendation of referral of the issue of extension of federal jurisdiction under the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (the PBR Act) to the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP), the Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon Warren Entsch, referred the extension of jurisdiction issue for consideration by ACIP. The Committee discussed and recommended technical/administrative amendments to the PBR Act, including changes: to include exemplary damages; abandonment of applications; reimbursement of fees in specific circumstances; prescribed trialling of varieties; extending the decision making powers of courts in relation to essentially derived varieties; improvements to delegations, forms and access to documents; and clarified wording. The Committee commended the Plant Breeder's Rights Office on the release and popular uptake of the Interactive Variety System (IVDS) by Qualified Persons. The Committee also discussed possible foundations for extension of duration of protection for certain taxa. The Committee reiterated its support for ratification of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) in order to ensure Australia's future contribution to international policy and procedure for the distribution and commercialisation of plant genetic resources. 36th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 36th meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory Committee (the Committee) was held at Discovery House, Canberra on 11 May 2005. Since the last meeting of Committee in May 2004, administration of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994 and the Plant Breeder's Rights Office had moved to IP Australia, a Division of the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (ITR). The Committee heard that in order to align its activities with IP Australia's advisory framework, the ITR Minister had appointed a current member of Committee, Dr Paul Brennan, to a vacancy on the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP), creating an active link between the two bodies. The Director General of IP Australia, reinforced that a pragmatic approach would be adopted to facilitate the interaction of the two advisory bodies, which included the possibility of referring broader policy and administrative issues for possible consideration by ACIP. The Committee discussed potential amendments to the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994 (the PBR Act), the provision of educative resources on PBR, and duration of protection in respect of specific taxa of plants. The Committee commended the Plant Breeder's Rights Office on the release of the Interactive Variety System (IVDS) and noted with approval the deployment of the IVDS for use by Qualified Persons. The Committee noted ACIP's report of November 2003 on whether the Federal Magistrates Court jurisdiction should be extended to patents, trade marks and designs but noted the report did not consider PBR. Committee considered the issue of amending the PBR Act so that PBR holders could access the Federal Magistrates Service to enforce their rights, in addition to recourse under Federal Court jurisdiction. The Committee supported, in principle, the extension of the PBR Act's civil jurisdictions to include the Federal Magistrates Court, in addition to the Federal Court as it would aid enforcement of PBR, and referred the matter for possible consideration by ACIP. The Committee emphasised the importance of Australia ratifying the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). Ratification would ensure Australia's future contribution to international policy and procedure for the distribution and commercialisation of plant genetic resources. The Committee supported all efforts towards ratification as facilitated access to genetic resources was critical to Australia's national interest in the primary production sector. 35th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 35th meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) was held in Canberra on 6 May 2004. The Committee resumed discussion of full cost recovery of the PBR programme welcoming the proposed strategy to implement an accounting treatment that would equalise income and costs over a period of years, thereby obviating the need to increase fees. The Committee discussed with representatives of the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture the project being developed with the Plant Breeder’s Rights Office aimed at promoting understanding of PBR legislation and administration. The Committee expressed its support for the proposed tiered approach, which would allow parties to explore subject matter according to their degree of expertise and their interest. The Committee noted the intention to engage stakeholders fully in the coming months and looked forward to further exchange on the project with the developers. The Committee discussed a number of possible further amendments to the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994. Further discussion will continue at the next meeting. The Committee discussed the question of labelling concluding that the current approach was appropriate and that mandatory labelling was not preferred. The Committee expressed its support for continuing participation at the meetings of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) reaffirming that this would benefit the organization and assist Australia to build upon its respected position within the international plant breeding/trading world. 34th MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 34th meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) was held in Canberra on 17 November 2003. The key matter discussed was the possible impact of full cost recovery on the PBR program. The Committee believed that the methodology used to arrive at full cost recovery figures for the PBR program did not reflect completely the actual costs of services consumed and had the potential to deliver unanticipated costs to the program in the future. Nevertheless, the Committee noted the Department’s assurance that the discrepancy between modelled results and actual costing were not significant and that the final result was materially correct. The Committee reiterated its belief that full cost recovery should be linked as closely as possible to the costs of activities or products consumed and looked forward to reviewing options to deal with the increased costs through expenditure cuts and increases in revenue. The Committee congratulated the Registrar of the PBR Office on his election to the position of Vice President of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) noting that this would benefit the organization and assist Australia to build upon its respected position within the international plant breeding/trading world. The Committee considered that the recently concluded training of a Chinese plant variety examiner in the PBR Office, jointly funded by China and Australia, was a useful initiative to promote harmonisation of their respective PBR programs. The Committee briefly discussed a number of possible further amendments to the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 foreshadowing more in depth discussion at future meetings. 33rd MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER’S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 33rd meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) was held in Canberra on 7 May 2002. The key matter discussed was the possible impact of full cost recovery on the PBR program. The Committee was critical of, and dissatisfied with, the briefing provided by AFFA Management Services (MS) in advance of the Committee meeting with MS representatives to discuss the issues. The discussion helped to inform the Committee of how MS had gone about the process of estimating how costs would be apportioned to the PBR program. However, at the end of the meeting the Committee concluded that the model: did not link the level of consumption with costs; included questionable logic; did not treat regulatory activities equally; and lacked the required transparency. Accordingly the Committee was not in a position to agree that the proposed corporate costs were related to the cost of providing PBR services. Neither did the Committee have a clear understanding of what the actual incremental full costs to the PBR program were or how those costs compared with previous years. The Committee believed that the current model was not sufficiently transparent nor was it safe to use the ratio suggested to apportion costs from the ‘business area’ to the PBR scheme level. The Committee was concerned that the current method of recovering costs from the PBR scheme would substantially inflate costs to users of PBR services. Equal distribution of corporate costs across all Department ‘business areas’ was seen as significant factor inflating costs. The Committee questioned the consistency of AFFA’s approach to PBR cost recovery with 7.10 of Senator Minchin's press release (December 2002) and associated documents. The Committee looked forward to a full and transparent explanation of costs so that an analysis of the impact of full cost recovery on the PBR program could eventually be made, and industry consulted on options. 32nd Meeting of the Plant Breeder's Rights Advisory CommitteeThe 32nd meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) was held in Canberra on 6 November 2002. Key matters discussed were: The Plant Breeder's Rights Amendment Bill 2002 The view of the PBRAC was that amendments that were not the subject matter of the Government’s Bill should not be addressed in the context of the current Bill. The Proposal to Remove the Exclusion for Plants and Animals from the Innovation Patent The view of the PBRAC was that the discussion paper on this issue prepared by the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property (ACIP) was inadequate and that it was inappropriate to place respondents in the position of justifying why current Government policy, established in recent legislation, should be maintained. The PBRAC was of the view that, in the absence of more information from ACIP and compelling national interest arguments, the current exclusion should be maintained. Full Cost Recovery The PBRAC was informed of AFFA’s intention to recover its corporate service costs from units within the Department and the possible cost implications for PBR fee increases and for usage of the PBR scheme. The view of PBRAC is that:
E-commerce PBRAC recommended that AFFA increase the priority of the introduction of an E-commerce facility for the PBR scheme, particularly in light of the need for greater efficiencies to offset full cost recovery. 31st MEETING OF THE PLANT BREEDER'S RIGHTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE (PBRAC)The 31st meeting of the Plant Breeder’s Rights Advisory Committee (PBRAC) was held in Canberra on 7 March 2002. Key matters discussed were: The Plant Breeder's Rights Amendment Bill 2002 PBRAC supported the Government’s decision to introduce the proposed amendments to the PBR Act. US Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) Administrative Change PBRAC noted the need to continue to monitor developments regarding US administrative procedures regarding asexually reproduced plant varieties. International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture PBRAC noted the need for an extensive consultation process regarding possible accession to this treaty, which deals with important issues on access to plant genetic resources. International Acceptance of Australia's Plant Protection Standards PBRAC noted that Australian participation at UPOV meetings is necessary to protect vital Australian interests. Expert Panel Report Clarifying Plant Breeding Issues PBRAC noted that the draft report of the Expert Panel
clarifying certain breeding issues is open for public comment. The Committee
was of the view that the section on essentially derived varieties could be expected
to draw most comment.
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