Plant Breeders’ Rights Act

Marginal note:Nature of plant breeder’s rights

• 5 (1) Subject to this Act, the holder of the plant breeder’s rights respecting a plant variety has the exclusive right

  • (a) to sell, and produce in Canada for the purpose of selling, propagating material, as such, of the plant variety;

  • (b) to make repeated use of propagating material of the plant variety in order to produce commercially another plant variety if the repetition is necessary for that purpose;

  • (c) where it is a plant variety to which ornamental plants or parts thereof normally marketed for purposes other than propagation belong, to use any such plants or parts commercially as propagating material in the production of ornamental plants or cut flowers; and

  • (d) to authorize, conditionally or unconditionally, the doing of an act described in paragraphs (a) to (c).

• Marginal note:Exemption

  (2) Paragraph (1)(a) does not apply in respect of the sale of propagating material that is not in Canada when it is sold but, if any such propagating material the sale of which to any person is exempted from that paragraph by this subsection is used as propagating material in Canada by that person, an infringement of the exclusive right conferred by virtue of that paragraph is constituted by the purchase and subsequent use of the propagating material by that person, who shall be liable to be proceeded against in respect of that infringement.

• Marginal note:Implications

  (3) A sale of propagating material in the exercise of any exclusive right conferred by subsection (1) does not imply that the seller authorizes the purchaser to produce, for the purpose of selling, propagating material as such but, subject to any terms or conditions imposed by the seller, the sale implies that the seller authorizes the purchaser to sell anything sold, in that exercise of the exclusive right, to the purchaser.

• Marginal note:Royalty

  (4) Without limiting the generality of paragraph (1)(d) and without prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown, where authority is conferred subject to conditions pursuant to that paragraph, whether or not the holder of the plant breeder’s rights is Her Majesty in right of Canada or a province, the conditions may include a requirement to pay royalty to the holder.