Emerging Problems In Enforcing The Rights Of Plant Breeders And Farmers In India
- IJLLR Journal
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
Dr. Md. Hasanur Zaman Siddique, Assistant Professor in Law, Jyotirmoy School of Law, University of Calcutta
ABSTRACT
After India signed the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement (TRIPs) in 1994, a legislation was required to be enacted for protecting plant breeders’ rights in India. Article 27.3 (b) of this agreement requires member countries to preserve plant varieties by a patent, an effective sui generis system, or a combination of the two. As a result, member countries had the option of drafting legislation tailored to their own systems, which India took advantage of. Consequently, the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPVFR) Act was enacted by the Indian Parliament in 2001. The sui generis system for plant variety protection was designed by merging the rights of breeders and farmers while also taking into account the concerns about equitable benefit sharing. However, two and a half decades later many gaps are created between the law and its practice. This paper attempts to critically analyse the cases involving serious issues in enforcing the rights of plant breeders and farmers in India and to examine scope for reforms.
Keywords: PPVFR Act, TRIPs, intellectual property, sui generis, judiciary etc.
