European Union Plant Variety Protection

This book is an invaluable and practical guide to the European Community plant variety protection system under Council Regulation (EC) 2100/94 and how it enables European breeders to protect new varieties of plants with a tailor-made intellectual property right. It combines a comprehensive explanation of the system with clear guidance on the law in practice, including how to obtain plant variety protection and how to enforce rights to that protection. It analyses the interrelation of plant variety rights with other IP rights, and provides guidance on the appropriate form of protection, considering the strengths and weaknesses of the system. The book also features time-saving references for further information on national, Community and international plant variety protection and enforcement. Plant variety law now protects a market of almost 500 million customers, and as awareness of the advantages of Community-wide protection has grown, the volume of cases brought before the General Court (GC) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as well as scholarship in this area, has grown rapidly. This new edition has been fully revised and updated with all recent jurisprudence, including case law concerning the demarcation of patents and plant variety rights, function of guidelines, termination of scope of protection of protected plant variety rights in infringement proceedings including the role of the plant variety description, function of guidelines, international competence of courts dealing with CPVR infringement issues. This is the most up-to-date and authoritative guide to the world's largest system for plant variety protection, and an essential resource for practitioners in this field.