- CHAPTER I—General Provisions
- CHAPTER II—Patentability of New Plant Varieties
- CHAPTER III—Right to Protection
- CHAPTER IV—Procedure for the Examination of an Application
- Rule 10—Filing the Application for Variety Patent
- Rule 11—Content of the Application for Variety Patent
- Rule 12—Official Filing Date of the Variety Patent Application
- Rule 13—Right of Priority
- Rule 14—Variety denomination
- Rule 15—Examination of the Application as to Form
- Rule 16—Substantive Examination of the Application
- Rule 17—Technical Examination of the New Variety
- Rule 18—Testing the New Variety
- Rule 19—O.S.LM. Decisions
- Rule 20—Provisional Protection
- Rule 21—Extension of the Time Limit
- Rule 22—Withdrawal of Variety Patent Application
- Rule 23—Revocation of the Decision to Grant a Variety Patent
- Rule 24—Issue of the Variety Patent and Registrationof the Variety Denomination
- CHAPTER V
- CHAPTER VI—Right of the Variety Holder
- CHAPTER VII—Lapse of the Variety Patent
- CHAPTER VIII—EXPLOITATION OF THE PROTECTED VARIETY
- CHAPTER X
IMPLEMENTING REGULATIONS OF THE LAW CHAPTER I RuIe 1
Breeders' rights on the new plant varieties, granted in the conditions of the Law, are recognized and protected in the territory of Romania, through the grant of a variety patent by the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks.
RuIe 2
For the purpose of the present regulations:
a) law means the Law on the protection of the new plant varieties No. 255/1998,
published in the Official Gazette of Romania no. 525 of December 31, 1998;
b) regulations means the Implementing Regulations of the Law on the protection of the New Plant Varieties No. 255/1998;
c) O.S.I.M. means the State Office for Inventions and Trademarks;
d) M.A.A. means The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry;
e) competent national authority means The State Institute for Testing and
Registration of Varieties (1.8.1.1.8.) or an authority designated by M.A.A.;
f) National Register of Variety Patent Applications means the register for entering the variety patent applications (RNCBS); g) National Register of Variety Patents means the register for entering the granted variety patents (RNBSP);
h) Official Bulletin of Industrial Property -the section for varieties protected by variety patents (BOP1-SSPBS);
i) authorized agent means the natural or legal person having the place of residence or headquarter in Romania, certified by O.S.I.M. and empowered to represent the applicant or the holder in the proceedings before the O.S.I.M.;
j) candidate variety means the variety for which an application for a variety patent was filed with O.S.I.M; k) protected variety means the bred and cultivated variety for which O.S.I.M. granted a variety patent; I) initial variety means the protected variety which may be the starting material for a new variety essentially derived;
m) dependent variety means the variety which, for the purpose of production, needs the repeated use of an initial protected variety, or which is essentially derived from a protected variety, provided that said variety is not in its turn essentially derived; the dependent variety may be the SUbject-matter of a variety patent independently from the protected initial variety, provided that it fulfils the distinctness, uniformity and stability conditions stipulated by the law;
n) essentially derived variety means the varietyderivedfromanotherprotectedinitiaI variety, provided that it is predominantly derived from the initial variety or from another variety which is predominantly derived from the initial variety and who keeps the expression of the essential characteristics resulting from a genotype of the initial variety or from a combination of genotypes; the essentially derived variety shall be clearly distinguishable from the initial protected variety by one or more characteristics which may be precisely described;
0) genetically modified variety means any variety obtained by genetic engineering; p) ornamental tree variety means a variety of trees belonging to any horticultural 0 r forest species on which breeding was developed;
q) variety ofcommun knowledge means a variety existing in a recognized reference
collection, in a gene bank or in an official catalogue! register and which may be reproduced
and cultivated whenever necessary.
2
CHAPTER II O.S.I.M. grants a variety patent if the conditions provided for in Art. 5 of the Law, respectivelly novelty, distinctness, uniformity and stability, depending on the group of species, are fulfilled cumulatively, and if the variety has a correct denomination, according to Art. 15 of Law.
Rule 5 Romania, earlier than one year before filing the application for a variety patent with O.S.I.M.; the breeder may sell the propagating or harvested material in order to prospect the market, earlier than one year before filing the application for a variety patent with O.S.I.M.;
(b) for the varieties created by foreign applicants, the exploitation or commercialisation of the variety in other countries, earlier than four years before filing the application for the variety patent with O.S.I.M.; for the species of trees or of vines the commercial exploitation is earlier than six years before the filing date of the application with
O.S.I.M.
Rule 6 in a member State of the International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties.
(5) As a rule, when establishing the distinctness of a variety, the characteristics regarding the agronomic value of the variety may also be taken into consideration; these are used only for the agricultural species and to the extent in which said characteristics are precise and not fluctuant due to the environment.
Rule 7 Rule 8 The stability of a candidate variety, within the meaning of Art. 9 of the Law, is determined after repeated propagation and in compliance with the specificity of each propagation cycle of the new variety, provided that the variety remains unchanged in the expression of the relevant characteristics for distinctness and for the variety description.
CHAPTER 111 Rule 9 CHAPTER IV Rule 10 (1) Any natural or legal person who wants to protect a new variety and who is entitled to the grant of a variety patent, may file the application with O.S.I.M., directly or through an authorized agent.
(2) The application for the variety patent may be filed: O.S.I.M.; b) by mail, registered and with confirmation of the receipt; c) by electronic means, the original being afterwards sent by mail.
(3) The Receipt bureau writes down on the application the year, month and day of receipt.
Rule 11 (1) The application for the variety patent is drawn up in two copies, on standardized printed forms, and relates to only one variety.
(2) The application for the grant of a variety patent shall contain; applicant(s); c) name and surname / denomination and address Iregistered office of the breeder, if the breeder is not the same as the applicant; d) when the applicant is a foreign natural or legal person, the name of the state the citizen of which he is or the name of the state where he has the place of residence 0 r
registered office; e) when represented by an authorized agent, the name and place of residence thereof; f) identification of the botanical taxon, with both the Latin and common name of the species the variety belongs; g) provisional denomination of the variety given by the breeder on a separate printed form; h) in case of claiming the priority of a first application filed in another state, a priority declaration proving the date of the first filing;
i) a standardized description of the variety in compliance with the international quidelines on the description of protected varieties, with at least one colour reproduction annexed;
j) geographical origin of the variety;
k) the applicant's or his authorized agent's signature, as the case may be.
(3) The application for the variety patent shall be accompanied by the following documents:
a) proof of payment of the filing fee;
b) power of attorney for the representation of the applicant or holder, drawn up in
Romanian or accompanied by the legalized translation in Romanian; c) a declaration from the applicant on his own responsibility that the variety has not been commercialised, as provided in Art. 6 (1) of the Law;
d) name/denomination of the breeder and a declaration from the applicant, according to which, to the best of his knowledge, no other persons have been involved in breeding, discovery and development of the new variety;
e) the assignment contract, where the applicant is different from the breeder; f) documents confirming the priority in another state. application.
Rule 12 (1) The official filing date of a variety patent application shall be the date of filing with
O.S.I.M. a variety patent application containing at least the elements provided for in Art. 12 (1) (a) to ( d) of the Law, drawn up in Romanian and accompanied by the proof of payment of the filing fee, as provided for in Art. 12 (3) (a) from the law. (4) In case some elements of the application provided for in para (3) are missing,
O.S.I.M. notifies the applicant a time limit of 3 months to remediate.
(5) Where the applicant regulates the application within the time period provided fo r in para (4), the official filing date shall be the date of receipt of the documentation by
O.S.I.M.
(6) Failing the regulation of the application within the time limit, O.S.I.M. will consider that the application has not been filed and will return the documentation to the applicant, refunding the examination fees in case they have been paid.
Rule 13 Rule 14 (1) The protected variety shall by designated by a generic denomination to permit
its identification on the market. The denomination shall be specified in the granted variety patent.
(2) The denomination shall be proposed by the applicant and shall be transmitted to O.S.I.M. at the same time with the variety patent application, being filled in on separate printed form. a) O.S.I.M. considers the denomination unsuitable for that variety; b) the denomination has already been used by third parties for said variety or for another variety and this may cause confusion on the autochtonous market. Under the conditions provided for in letter a) and b) O.S.I.M. shall request the applicant to propose another denomination for the candidate variety.
(9) The filing of the variety denomination shall be refused if it contains an elemen t liable to cause a damage or to give rise to a risk of confusion with another trade name of other variety or of a trademark, or of another previously protected industrial or intellectual property right.
(10) Where O.S.I.M. considers that the provisions of Art. 15 from the Law are fulfilled, the denomination proposed by the applicant for the candidate variety is published in BOPI-SSPBS. c) there exists a final and irrevocable decision forbidding the use of the denomination for that variety. Rule 15 (1) The examination of the variety patent is performed by O.S.I.M. that shall check whether the documentation filed by the applicant satisfies the provisions of Art. 10 para (1) to
ON THE PROTECTION OF THE NEW PLANT VARIETIES NO. 255/1998
General Provisions
Object of protection
Definitions
Rule 3
Representation
Patentability of New Plant Varieties
Rule 4
Conditions of Protection
Novelty
Distinctness
Uniformity
Stability
Right to Protection
Right to a Variety Patent
Procedure for the Examination of an Application
Filing the Application for Variety Patent
a) directly and with the confirmation of the receipt from the Receipt bureau of
Content of the Application for Variety Patent
a) an express request for the grant of a variety patent;
b) name and surname Idenomination and address I registered office of the
Official Filing Date of the Variety Patent Application
Right of Priority
Variety denomination
Examination of the Application as to Form