Last year, we saw changes to the Singapore Plant Variety
Protection (PVP) Act (2004) taking effect. In Singapore, previously
only 16 genera of plants were protectable through PVP legislation.
The amended legislation expands the list of protectable plants to
cover all genera of plants, in line with Singapore's
International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
(UPOV) obligations.
In Singapore, a Plant Variety Protection (PVP) application may be
filed either with or without a foreign priority claim. The deadline
for filing a PVP application claiming priority is 12 months from
the date of filing in a foreign UPOV member.
The process of examination of PVP applications has also been
updated to provide more options for applicants. For instance, the
Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) can engage the
services of foreign Examiners to examine plant variety applications
on its behalf, and applicants are permitted to nominate a foreign
jurisdiction that has experience in the variety.
A plant variety may be considered to be 'new' (novel) if
harvested or propagating material has not been sold or otherwise
disposed of to another person in Singapore for more than one year;
or more than six years in any other country (if the variety is a
tree or a vine); or more than four years (for other plants) before
the PVP application is made.
Filing requirements
Applications for new PVPs must contain a description of the
plant variety, including pictorial representations, a proposed
denomination (trade name) for the plant variety which qualifies for
approval, and other particulars. Missing particulars need be
rectified within two months of the original application.
Priority claims for PVPs in Singapore must be claimed within 12
months of a foreign (UPOV) application filing date. Within three
months of the priority claim, applicants must submit a copy of the
priority application which has been certified by the authority in
the relevant foreign UPOV member. If the foreign priority
application is not in English, a certified copy of an English
translation is required.
A preliminary examination of formalities and proposed denomination
will then be carried out by IPOS and the applicant will have two
months to rectify any deficiencies. The application is then
published to allow a two month period within which third party
objections may be lodged. If there are no objections, the
application will proceed to examination.
The options for examination of a PVP application in Singapore
are:
Normal examination
Applicants must submit propagating material, descriptions, drawings or photographs of the plant variety, or any other material or document that is necessary for examination within one month after any written request from a local Examiner; or within three months for an Examiner located outside Singapore. Further material, descriptions, drawings and/or photographs may be requested by the Examiner and these must be provided in the period specified. For a straightforward application, a certificate of grant will issue and the application will be published. If not, up to two written opinions may issue, to each of which the applicant has two months to respond. The application will then be granted or rejected and published accordingly.
Modified examination
A cheaper and less onerous alternative is to rely on a foreign
examination report for a corresponding foreign application. In this
case, the applicant has three years from the date of the foreign
application to provide the Registrar with a copy of the examination
report, which will be reviewed by the Examiner or Registrar. If the
foreign application is refused or withdrawn, the applicant has two
years from that date within which to provide an examination report
(issued and certified by the Examiner in a UPOV country other than
Singapore) from another foreign application to the Registrar or
switch to normal examination. If a certificate of grant is made,
the application will then be published. If a certificate of grant
is not made (i.e. the application is rejected), the applicant has
three months to request a normal examination .
With payment of annual renewal fees, PVP lasts 25 years in
Singapore and is therefore an attractive form of protection. Now
that the full suite of plants is protectable in Singapore, it will
be interesting to monitor the number of PVP applications filed.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.