Question & AnswerQ&A (Republic Act No. 9168)
The short title of Republic Act No. 9168 is the "Philippine Plant Variety Protection Act of 2002."
The four conditions required are: The variety must be New, Distinct, Uniform, and Stable.
A breeder is the person who bred, or discovered and developed a new plant variety; or the employer who commissioned the work; or the successors-in-interest of these persons; or the holder of the Certificate of Plant Variety Protection.
The term of protection is twenty-five (25) years for trees and vines, and twenty (20) years for all other types of plants from the date of grant of the Certificate of Plant Variety Protection.
The holder has the exclusive rights to authorize production or reproduction, conditioning for propagation, offering for sale, selling or other marketing, exporting, importing, and stocking for these purposes of the protected variety's propagating materials.
Exceptions include acts done for noncommercial purposes, experimental purposes, breeding other varieties (except when derived varieties apply), and traditional rights of small farmers to save, use, exchange, share or sell their farm produce under certain conditions.
Violators may face imprisonment from three (3) to six (6) years and/or a fine of up to three (3) times the profit derived from the infringement but not less than One Hundred Thousand pesos (P100,000.00).
The Board enforces the Act, promulgates guidelines, exercises jurisdiction over petitions, organizes the Registrar, approves expenditures and contracts, and performs functions necessary for implementing the law.
A variety is new if its propagating or harvested material has not been sold, offered for sale, or disposed to others for exploitation purposes for more than one year in the Philippines before filing or more than four years in other countries (six years for vines or trees).
It means the breeder/applicant who has the earliest filing date or priority date has the right to register a variety denomination, excluding others who apply for the same denomination later.