Plant Varieties Registration In India: An Overview Of Legal Requirements And Procedures

Swagatika Panigrahi, Assistant Professor, Dr. Ambedkar Global Law Institute, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

Maglin M Raja, Assistant Professor, Dr. Ambedkar Global Law Institute, Tirupati, Andra Pradesh

Karun Mahesh, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Intellectual Property Management, Nagpur, Maharashtra

ABSTRACT

The TRIPS Agreement provides its members an option to exclude from patentability plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production of plants or animals other than non- biological or microbiological processes. According to Article 27 paragraph 3(b), countries were obliged to protect plant varieties either by ensuring patentability or by enacting laws specific to their own societies (sui generis system) or by a combination of the two.

In India, plants in whole or part including seeds, varieties and species essentially biological processes for production or propagation of plants are not patentable inventions (Section 3(j) of the Indian Patent Act, 1970). India enacted a sui generis legislation dealing with registration of plant varieties, called the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001. This legislation deals with the registration of plant varieties in India.

Keywords: Plant Varieties, Registration under Indian Law, The Protection Of Plant Varieties And Farmers' Rights Act, 2001.