- Chapter I General Provisions
- Section 1Purpose of this Law
- Section 2Scope of Application of this Law
- Section 3Conditions for Granting the Breeder’s Right
- Section 4Novelty of a Variety
- Section 5Distinctness of a Variety
- Section 6Uniformity of a Variety
- Section 7Stability of a Variety
- Section 8Breeder
- Section 9Owner of Breeder’s Right
- Section 10Authorised Representative
- Section 11Personal Rights of a Breeder
- Section 12 Tasks of the National Council Plant Variety Council and the State Plant Protection Service in the Field of Protection of Varieties
- Section 13 The Latvian State Register of Protected Plant Varieties
- Chapter II Application for Granting the Breeder’s Right and Examination Thereof
- Section 14Application for Granting the Breeder’s Right
- Section 15Convention Priority
- Section 16Examination of Applications
- Section 17Submission of Objections
- Section 18Examination of a Variety
- Section 19Decision regarding Granting of the Breeder’s Right
- Section 20Denomination of a Variety and Procedures forRegistration Thereof
- Section 21Publications
- Section 22State Fee
- Chapter IIIBreeder’s right
- Section 23Scope of Application of the Breeder’s Right
- Section 24Restrictions of the Breeder’s right
- Section 25Exceptions of the Breeder’s right
- Section 26Term of Validity of the Breeder’s Right
- Section 27Transfer of the Breeder’s right
- Section 28License Contract
- Section 29Non-exclusive Licence
- Section 30Exclusive License
- Section 31Free Right of Use
- Section 32Compulsory Licence
- Section 32.1Implementation of Breeder’s Rights if aBiotechnological Invention is Protected by a Patent
- Section 33Certification or Conformity Assessment ofPropagating Material
- Section 34Examination of Variety During ProtectionPeriod Thereof
- Section 35Provision of Information regarding Utilisationof a Protected Variety
- Chapter IVLoss of Effect and Cancellation of Breeder’s right
- Chapter VLiability for Infringement of Breeder’s right
- Transitional Provisions[17 November 2005]
(2) In particular, a variety shall be deemed to be a matter of common knowledge if an application for granting the breeder’s right or for inclusion of the variety in the official catalogue of varieties has been registered in any state and if according to such application the breeder’s right have been granted or the variety has been included in the official catalogue of varieties. A variety shall be deemed to be a matter of common knowledge as of the date of registration of an application.
Section 6 A variety shall be deemed to be uniform if plants thereof, which have been propagated observing the particular features of the variety propagation, are sufficiently uniform in respect of the characteristic features of the variety.
Section 7 A variety shall be deemed to be stable if after the repeated propagation or at the end of each propagation cycle (if a special propagation cycle is utilised) the characteristic features of the variety do not substantially change.
Section 8 (1) In accordance with this Law the following persons are breeders:
1) a natural person who has derived or isolated the relevant variety;
2) an employer or a commissioning party who has entered into a contract with a person referred to in Clause 1 of this Section regarding the derivement or isolation of the relevant variety;
3) a successor to the rights of persons referred to in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Section.
(2) If a variety has been derived as a result of the joint activities of several breeders, they shall have joint breeder’s right which have been specified by a written agreement. If an agreement has not been entered into, each of them is entitled to exercise breeder’s right at his or her own discretion, with the exception of the granting of a licence, as well as of transferring the breeder’s right to another person. The joint owners of the breeder’s right shall carry out such activities only by mutual agreement or in accordance with a court adjudication.
Section 9 A person referred to in Section 8 of this Law who has acquired the breeder’s right in accordance with the procedures specified in this Law is an owner of breeder’s right.
Section 10 The State Plant Protection Service shall register an Section 11 (1) A breeder (a natural person), irrespective of who is the owner of breeder’s right, has personal rights, which shall not be transferred to other persons and inherited. These are rights:
1) to be mentioned in materials and publications regarding the relevant variety, as well as the certificate regarding the granting of a breeder’s right;
2) to submit a proposal for the denomination of a variety; and
3) to apply for an equitable remuneration for the utilisation of a variety in cases provided for in a contract entered into with an employer.
(2) The rights specified in Paragraph one of this Section in case of violation thereof may be protected in a court in accordance with the same procedures by which copyright is protected. [17 November 2005]
Section 12 1) accept and examine applications and other documents related thereto;
2) perform expert-examinations of the conditions for granting the breeder’s right;
3) take a decision regarding the recognition of results of a variety distinctness, uniformity and stability examination (hereinafter – variety examination);
4) organise, perform or control variety examination;
5) take a decision regarding the granting, loss of effect and cancellation of the breeder’s right;
6) issue certificates on granting the breeder’s right;
7) register licences for the transfer of the breeder’s right;
8) maintain the Latvian State Register of Protected Plant Varieties;
9) in conformity with its competence co-operate with international organisations;
10) perform other functions provided for in this Law;
11) perform all activities in conformity with European Union legislation regarding plant variety protection. [17 November 2005]
Section 13 1) the registration number and date of the application;
2) the name and address of the breeder;
3) if it is an authorised representative – the name and address of the authorised representative, the date, number and term of validity of the authorisation;
4) the proposed denomination of a variety or temporary designation;
5) the description of the variety technical form registration number and date or the official description of the variety registration number and date that is prepared after the performance of a variety examination (hereinafter – description of the variety);
6) the variety examination report registration number and date;
7) the date of publication of the registered application;
8) the date of publication of the applied for and registered variety denomination;
9) the priority date; and
10) information regarding the course of the examination of the application.
(3) The following information regarding protected varieties shall be included in the Register:
1) the number by which the variety has been included in the Register;
2) the name and address of the owner of breeder’s right, breeder, and authorised representative;
3) the denomination of the variety;
4) the description of the variety;
5) a reference to the components of the variety if they are utilised for the propagation of the variety;'
6) the date of the granting of the breeder’s right, the time period for which the breeder’s right has been granted, loss of effect of the breeder’s rights and cancellation thereof;
7) the information regarding compulsory licences, registered licences and registered licence contracts issued;
8) information regarding the change of the name of the owner of a licence; and
9) information regarding the payment of the State fee for protection of breeder’s rights.'
(4) The applicant and the owner of breeder’s rights shall be liable for the provision of information to be included into the Register, the veracity, amendment and alteration thereof. [17 November 2005]
Chapter II Section 14 1) a description of the variety;
2) [17 November 2005]
3) a copy of a payment document of the payment made for the examination of the application;
4) an authorisation if the applicant is not the breeder;
5) the documents referred to in Section 15 of this Law if a convention priority has been requested; and
6) a copy of the first certificate for granting the breeder’s right if the breeder’s right is protected in other states.
(3) An application shall be registered if a description of the variety technical form has been submitted and the following information has been provided in the application form and a copy of the payment document regarding the examination of the application:
1) the name and address of the applicant;
2) the name and address of the breeder if the applicant is not the breeder;
3) the submitted denomination of the variety;
4) the State in which the application has been registered and the registration date if a convention priority is requested; and
5) the person referred to in Section 8, Paragraph two, Clause 1 of this Law if the breeder is the person referred to in Section 8, Paragraph two, Clause 2 of this Law. Section 15 1) examine the right of the applicant to submit an application and the conformity of the variety to the provisions of Section 4 of this Law;
2) inform the applicant in writing regarding the necessity to supplement the registered application with the documents referred to in Section 14, Paragraph two of this Law and to submit a translation into the Latvian language of the documents
Latviaappended, as well as regarding the procedures for the examination of the variety. Plant Varieties Protection Law of 2005 description and the variety examination report from the official institution performing the variety examination and shall request an original sample of the variety seed therefrom. [17 November 2005]
Section 19 Decision regarding Granting of the Breeder’s Right 1) if a fully completed application form has bee submitted and the documents referred to in Section 14, Paragraph two of this Law have been appended; and
2) in accordance with the provisions specified in Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of this Law. Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) in relation to the international nomenclature of cultivated plants. The denomination of a variety may consist of words, combinations of letters and figures, as well as of figures if such is the recognised practice in the designation of denominations. The denomination shall be such as the variety may be recognised by it and such as the denomination may be clearly distinguished from the denominations of varieties of the same or related plant species and the registered firm names, as well as it shall comply with linguistic standards.
(3) The State Plant Protection Service shall examine the conformity of the denomination applied for to the provisions of Paragraphs one and two of this Section. If an applied for denomination:
1) conforms, it shall be published. Interested persons have the right to submit objections to the State Plant Protection Service regarding the applied for denomination of a variety within a time period of three months from the day of publication thereof. The State Plant Protection Service shall inform the applicant regarding the objections received and if they are justified, shall act in accordance with Clause 2 of this Paragraph. The State Plant Protection Service shall inform regarding a decision, which is taken in relation to the objections, to the submitter of the objection and member states of UPOV and the European Union; or
2) does not conform, the applicant, within a time period of a month, shall submit a proposal regarding a new denomination of the variety. If the applicant does not submit a proposal, the application shall be rejected and the applicant informed in writing thereof. 1) the denomination has been registered without complying with the provisions of Paragraphs one and two of this Section;'
2) a written request of the owner of the breeder’s right has been received; and
3) a relevant decision of a higher institution or an adjudication of a court has been received. 1) registered, recalled and rejected applications;'
2) denominations of varieties proposed and changes of denominations of protected varieties;
3) granting, loss of effect or cancellation of the breeder’s right;
4) change of the breeder, owner of breeder’s right or authorised representative; and
5) other notices associated with this Law.
(2) The State Plant Protection Service shall publish the information referred to in Paragraph one of this Section also in the periodical publication “Latvijas Augu Skirnu Biletens" [Latvian Plant Variety Bulletin], which shall be sent to all member states of UPOV and the European Union. [17 November 2005]
Section 22 An owner of breeder’s right or an authorised representative shall pay a State fee for the protection of the breeder’s right in accordance with the procedures and in the amount specified by the Cabinet and shall submit a payment certification document to the State Plant Protection Service. [17 November 2005]
Chapter III Section 23 (1) No other person shall turn a variety into a source of income without a permit (licence contract) from an owner of the breeder’s right. In compliance with the provisions of Section 24 of this Law a permit from the owner of the breeder’s rights shall be necessary for the performance of the following activities related to the propagating material of a variety:
1) production and propagation;
2) preparation in conformity with sowing requirements in order to propagate the variety;
3) offer for sale;
4) sale or other type of marketing;
5) exportation and importation; and
6) storage for the purposes referred to in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. 1) which is essentially derived from the protected variety if this protected variety is not itself essentially derived in such manner;
2) which, in compliance with the provisions of Section 5 of this Law, insufficiently differs from the protected variety; and
3) in the production of which the protected variety must be repeatedly utilised.
(4) The variety referred to in Paragraph three, Clause 1 of this Section shall be deemed to be essentially derived from another (initial) variety, if it:
1) is predominantly derived from the initial variety or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initial variety, while retaining the essential characteristics the origin of which has been determined by the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety;
2) is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety; and
3) conforms to the essential characteristics of the initial variety the origin of which has been determined by the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety, except for the differences that have arisen during the process of derivation.
Uniformity of a Variety
Stability of a Variety
Breeder
Owner of Breeder’s Right
Authorised Representative
authorised representative based on the authorisation
of a breeder.
[17 November 2005]
Personal Rights of a Breeder
Tasks of the National Council Plant
Variety Council and the State Plant
Protection Service in the Field of
Protection of Varieties
The Latvian State Register of
Protected Plant Varieties
Application for Granting the Breeder’s Right and
Examination Thereof
Application for Granting the Breeder’s Right
Convention Priority
Examination of Applications
Submission of Objections
Examination of a Variety
Denomination of a Variety and Procedures for
Registration Thereof
Publications
State Fee
Breeder’s right
Scope of Application of the Breeder’s Right
Restrictions of the Breeder’s right