Plant Varieties Protection Act 2004

“applicant”, in relation to any application, means the person by whom or on whose behalf the application is made;

“application” means an application for a grant of protection;

“breeder”, in relation to any plant variety, means —

“Convention” means the international agreement called the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of 2 December 1961, as revised or amended from time to time;

“Court” means the General Division of the High Court;

“denomination” means the distinguishing name or identification for a plant variety;

“Examiner” means any person, organisation or entity appointed by the Registrar for the purpose of referring any question or matter relating to a grant of protection;

“grant of protection” means a grant of protection made by the Registrar under section 21;

“grantee” means the holder of a grant of protection;

“harvested material” means any harvested material to which the rights of a grantee under section 28(1) are extended by virtue of section 28(7);

“Office” means the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore incorporated under the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Act 2001;

“plant” includes all fungi and algae but does not include bacteria, bacteroids, mycoplasmas, viruses, viroids and bacteriophages;

“plant variety” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest rank which, irrespective of whether the conditions for a grant of protection are fully met, can be —

“procedural representative”, in relation to any plant variety, means a person who is resident or has an office in Singapore and who is appointed by the breeder of that variety to act on the breeder’s behalf in respect of the making of any application for, or any proceedings relating to, a grant of protection for that variety;

“propagating material”, in relation to a plant of a particular plant variety, means any part or product from which, whether alone or in combination with other parts or products of that plant, another plant with the same essential characteristics can be produced;

“propagation”, in relation to a plant or any of its components, means the growth, culture or multiplication of that plant or component;

“protected variety” means a plant variety in respect of which a grant of protection is in force, and includes any essentially derived or other plant variety to which the grant of protection is extended by virtue of section 29(1);

“register” means the register of plant varieties maintained under section 39;

“Registrar” means the Registrar of Plant Varieties mentioned in section 5;

“Registry” means the Registry of Plant Varieties mentioned in section 7;

“relevant characteristics”, in relation to any plant variety, means the phenotypical and genotypical expressions of the variety that permit its identification;

“term”, in relation to a grant of protection, means the term of the grant of protection under section 24;

“UPOV member” means a state or an inter‑governmental party to the Convention which is a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants constituted pursuant to the Convention.

There is to be a Registrar of Plant Varieties who has the chief control of the Registry of Plant Varieties.

There are to be one or more Deputy Registrars of Plant Varieties who is to, subject to the control of the Registrar, have all the powers and functions of the Registrar under this Act, other than the powers of the Registrar under section 6.

There are to be one or more Assistant Registrars of Plant Varieties.

The Registrar and all the other officers under this section must be appointed by the Minister.

The Registrar may, in relation to a particular matter or class of matters, by writing under the hand of the Registrar, delegate all or any of his or her powers or functions under this Act (except this power of delegation) to an Assistant Registrar of Plant Varieties, any public officer, or any person with the relevant qualifications for or experience in the matter or class of matters, so that the delegated powers and functions may be exercised by the delegate with respect to the matter or class of matters specified in the instrument of delegation.

A delegation under this section is revocable at will and no delegation prevents the exercise of a power or function by the Registrar or by any Deputy Registrar of Plant Varieties.

Where the delegate is a person with the relevant qualifications or experience mentioned in subsection (1), he or she is, when exercising the delegated powers or functions, deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871.

A person who has been summoned to appear as a witness before the Registrar must not, without lawful excuse, fail to appear in obedience to the summons.

A person who has been required by the Registrar to produce a document or article must not, without lawful excuse, fail to produce the document or article.

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

A person who appears before the Registrar must not, without lawful excuse, refuse to be sworn or to make an affirmation, or to produce documents or articles, or to answer questions, which the person is lawfully required to produce or answer.

Any person who contravenes subsection (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 months or to both.

The Registrar may award costs in respect of the matters, and in the amounts provided for in rules made under this Act, against any party to proceedings brought before him or her.

The rules may provide for the taxation of the costs, or any part of the costs, by the Registrar.

A party desirous to obtain costs or to have the costs taxed must apply to the Registrar in accordance with the rules.

If a party is ordered to pay the costs of another party, the costs may be recovered in a court of competent jurisdiction as a debt due by the first party to the other party.

An application for a grant of protection for a plant variety must be made by the breeder of that plant variety in the prescribed manner to the Registrar.

The application must contain or be accompanied by the following:

The application must be accompanied by an application fee and any other fees that may be prescribed.

An application that complies with subsections (1), (2) and (3) at the time it is received at the Registry is, for the purposes of this Act, deemed to be made at that time.

An application that does not comply with subsection (1), (2) or (3) at the time it is received is nevertheless deemed to be made at that time if it is rectified within such time and in such manner as the Registrar may specify.

The Registrar must, if satisfied that an application complies with subsections (1), (2) and (3) —

If —

The breeder must, within 3 months of making the claim of a right of priority under subsection (1), submit to the Registrar a copy of any document constituting the foreign application, which must be certified as correct by the authority in the UPOV member to which the foreign application was made.

The breeder is allowed a period of 2 years after the end of the period mentioned in subsection (1)(b) or, where the foreign application (or the earliest foreign application) is rejected or withdrawn, a period of 2 years after the rejection or withdrawal, in which to furnish any necessary information, document or material required for the purpose of the examination under section 17 to the Registrar or an Examiner appointed by the Registrar for the purposes of this subsection (as the case may be) or an examination report under section 18 to the Registrar.

Any person may, within the prescribed period after the publication of a denomination, by written notice to the Registrar, object to the approval of that denomination.

Any person may, within the prescribed period after the publication of an application for a grant of protection for a plant variety, by written notice to the Registrar, object to the making of a grant in respect of that plant variety on the ground that the plant variety is not new within the meaning of section 22.

The Minister may make rules to provide for objection proceedings and for matters relating to objection proceedings.

If a person who neither resides nor carries on business in Singapore makes an objection under this section, the Registrar may require the person to give security for the costs of the proceedings and may, if security is not given, dismiss the proceedings.

Subject to section 18, the applicant must, within the prescribed period after making an application, give to the Registrar or any Examiner appointed by the Registrar for the purposes of this section —

The Registrar or the Examiner must examine the candidate variety —

The Registrar or the Examiner may by written notice request the applicant to furnish any further information, document or propagating material of the candidate variety and of any similar plant variety in addition to any plant variety mentioned in subsection (1)(a)(iii).

Where the Registrar or the Examiner has made a request for further information, documents or propagating material under subsection (3), the applicant must —

Subject to subsection (2), the applicant may, instead of complying with the provisions in section 17, lodge with the Registrar in any manner that the Registrar may require and within the prescribed period, an examination report issued and certified by an Examiner in any UPOV member other than Singapore.

The Registrar may reject an examination report lodged under subsection (1), in which case the applicant must comply with the provisions in section 17.

Any application may be withdrawn by the applicant at any time before a grant of protection is made in respect of it.

The withdrawal of an application does not affect the applicant’s liability for any fees that may have become payable up to the date of that withdrawal.

Where any information, document or material required to be given to the Registrar or an Examiner under the provisions of this Act is not supplied within the period stated in the written notice issued by the Registrar or the Examiner (as the case may be) requiring the information, document or material, the application concerned lapses upon the end of that period.

The Registrar must —

An application must be treated as being eligible for the making of a grant of protection if, and only if —

For the purpose of sections 16(2), 21(2)(b)(iii) and 25(2)(a) —

For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), where, in order to increase the stock of a plant variety or for any testing of a plant variety, the breeder of the plant variety makes any arrangement under which —

For the purposes of subsection (1)(a), a plant variety does not cease to be new by virtue only of the sale or disposal at any time of —

Despite subsection (1)(a), where this Act did not apply to a plant genus or species before 30 July 2014, and an application for a grant of protection is made within one year after that date in respect of any plant variety belonging to that plant genus or species, that plant variety is deemed to be new if harvested or propagating material of that plant variety has not been sold, or otherwise disposed of, in Singapore to another person, by or with the breeder’s consent for the purposes of exploitation in Singapore of that plant variety —

For the purpose of subsection (1)(b), the making of an application in any country for —

The Registrar must endorse on every grant of protection the date of the grant of protection.

Subject to sections 25 and 26, the term of a grant of protection is a period of 25 calendar years from the date of the grant of protection.

The grantee must during the term of the grant of protection pay an annual fee of a prescribed amount and furnish any information that the Registrar may require in the prescribed manner and within the prescribed period.

An application for a declaration of invalidity of any grant of protection on any ground mentioned in subsection (2) may be made by any person to the Court.

A grant of protection is to be declared invalid if the Court is satisfied that —

The Registrar must remove from the register any grant of protection which has been declared invalid by the Court under this section.

An application for cancellation of any grant of protection may be made by any person —

A grant of protection must be cancelled by the Registrar at any time during its term in the event that —

A grant of protection is to be cancelled by the Court at any time during its term in the event that it is established that the plant variety is no longer stable or uniform within the meaning of section 22(1)(c) or (d), respectively.

The Registrar must remove from the register any grant of protection which has been cancelled under this section.

A grantee may, in writing to the Registrar, renounce the grantee’s grant of protection.

The Registrar must remove from the register any grant of protection which has been renounced under subsection (1).

Subject to sections 31 and 32, a grantee in respect of any protected variety is entitled to prevent a person from doing any of the following acts in respect of the propagating material of the protected variety without the authorisation, by way of a licence or otherwise, of the grantee:

The grantee may give an authorisation subject to conditions and limitations.

A grant of protection is personal property and may be assigned or transmitted in the same way as other personal property.

An assignment of a grant of protection under subsection (3) is not effective unless it is in writing and signed by or on behalf of the assignor.

Subject to subsection (6), a licence granted by a grantee in respect of any protected variety is binding on every successor in title to the grantee’s interest —

Every person is deemed to have notice of a licence if the prescribed particulars of the grant of the licence are entered in the register under section 42.

Subject to sections 31 and 32, the rights of a grantee under subsection (1) also apply to harvested material, including entire plants and parts of plants, obtained through the unauthorised use of propagating material of the protected variety unless the grantee has had a reasonable opportunity, before the harvested material was obtained, to exercise the grantee’s rights in relation to the unauthorised use of the propagating material.

Where a grant of protection is made under section 21, that grant of protection also extends to —

For the purposes of this section, a plant variety is to be treated as being essentially derived from the original plant variety if —

A grant of protection is infringed by any person who —

Subject to the provisions of this Act, the relief that the Court may grant in an action for an infringement of a grant of protection includes an injunction (subject to such terms, if any, as the Court thinks fit) and either damages or an account of profits.

Where, in an action under this section —

Where, in any action under this section, it is proved or admitted that an infringement was committed but proved by the defendant that, at the time of that infringement, the defendant was not aware and had no reasonable grounds for supposing that it was an infringement, the plaintiff is not entitled under this section to any damages against the defendant in respect of that infringement, but is entitled instead to an account of profits in respect of that infringement.

Nothing in subsection (4) affects any entitlement of a grantee to any relief in respect of the infringement of that grantee’s rights under this Act other than damages.

It is not an infringement of a grant of protection in respect of a protected variety for any person to do —

It is not an infringement of a grant of protection for any person engaging in farming activities to use, for propagating purposes and for the purpose of safeguarding agricultural or horticultural production, on the person’s own holdings, harvested material from the protected variety where —

An act concerning —

In this section, “material” means —

Any person may apply to the Court for the grant of a compulsory licence to exploit a protected variety in Singapore.

The Court may make an order for the grant of a compulsory licence, subject to any terms that it thinks fit, in accordance with an application under subsection (1) if, and only if, the Court is satisfied that the grant of a compulsory licence is in the public interest.

Without limiting subsection (2), the Court may set out in its order —

The Court is to set out in its order the equitable remuneration which the licensee must pay to the grantee.

A licence must not be granted under this section to any person who is unable to demonstrate to the Court that the person will be able to exploit the protected variety in a manner acceptable to the Court.

A licence must not be granted under this section unless the person applying for the licence has first taken all reasonable steps to obtain authorisation from the grantee on reasonable commercial terms and conditions and has failed to obtain such authorisation within a reasonable period of time.

A licence granted under this section does not prevent the grantee from exploiting the protected variety himself, herself or itself or from granting a licence in this respect.

A licence in respect of a protected variety granted under this section may be transferred to another person, but only together with the business activity in connection with which the protected variety is exploited or is intended to be exploited.

A licence granted under this section may, upon the application of any interested party, be terminated by the Court where the Court is satisfied that the ground upon which the licence was granted has ceased to exist.

Where an applicant sells any propagating material of the plant variety in respect of which the applicant’s application relates, the applicant must take all reasonable steps, by means of suitable labelling or other identification of that material to inform the purchaser of the existence of that application, unless and until that application is withdrawn or lapses or the Registrar declines to make a grant in respect of that application.

Any person who —

In determining, for the purposes of section 30(4), whether or not any person had reasonable grounds for supposing that any action was an infringement of a grant of protection, the Court may take into account the extent (if any) to which a person mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) (as the case may be) has complied with that subsection in respect of any propagating material in relation to which that infringement occurred.

A plant variety in respect of which an application for a grant of protection is made is to have a denomination and, subject to subsections (2) and (3), the denomination must be approved by the Registrar and registered at the time the grant of protection is made.

The Registrar must approve and register a proposed denomination for a plant variety if, and only if, in the opinion of the Registrar, it complies with the prescribed requirements.

The Registrar must not approve or register a denomination for the plant variety which —

Where a denomination for a plant variety has previously been submitted in any UPOV member other than Singapore for the purpose of registration in that UPOV member, the denomination submitted for the purpose of an application in Singapore in respect of that plant variety must be the same as the denomination submitted in the UPOV member.

The Registrar must approve the denomination submitted under subsection (4) upon the grant of protection, unless the Registrar considers the denomination to be unsuitable for use within Singapore.

Where the Registrar refuses to approve a denomination under subsection (2), (3) or (5), the Registrar must require, and the applicant must propose, another denomination within the prescribed period.

Any person who offers for sale or disposes of propagating material of a protected variety must use the registered denomination for that protected variety, whether or not the term of the grant of protection has expired.

A person must not offer for sale or dispose of, under the registered denomination of a protected variety, propagating material of some other plant variety, whether or not the term of grant of protection has expired.

A registered denomination for a protected variety or a denomination which is confusingly similar to the registered denomination must not be used for any plant variety of the same plant species as the protected variety or for a plant specie which is closely related thereto or for any material of such a plant variety, so long as —

A person who sells or markets the propagating material or harvested material of a protected variety may, for that purpose, associate a trademark, trade name or other similar indication which the person owns with the registered denomination of that protected variety.

Where a person associates a trademark, trade name or other similar indication with the registered denomination under subsection (4), the denomination must nevertheless be easily recognisable and distinct from the trademark, trade name or other similar indication.

An application for a declaration of invalidity of a registered denomination may be made to the Court on the ground that it is registered in breach of section 36(3).

Where —

The Registrar must maintain a register of plant varieties.

There must be entered in the register —

The register may be kept in whole or in part using a computer.

Any record of a particular or other matter made by using a computer used for the purpose of keeping the register, or any part of the register, is taken to be an entry in the register.

The register is to be available at the Registry for inspection by any person during the hours when the Registry is open for business.

If the register, or any part of the register, is kept by using a computer, subsection (1) is satisfied if a person who wants to inspect the register or that part of the register is given access to a computer terminal from which the person can read on a screen, or obtain a printed copy of, the particulars or other matters recorded in the register or that part of the register.

Any person who applies for a certified copy of an entry in the register or a certified extract from the register is entitled to obtain such a copy or extract on payment of the prescribed fee.

In relation to any portion of the register kept otherwise than in documentary form, the right to a copy or extract conferred by subsection (3) is a right to a copy or extract in a form in which it can be taken away.

In this section, “certified copy” and “certified extract” mean a copy and extract certified by the Registrar.

Any person having a sufficient interest may apply to the Registrar for the rectification of an error or omission in the register.

Except where the Registrar directs otherwise, the effect of a rectification of the register is that the error or omission in question is deemed never to have been made.

Subject to subsection (4), an application for rectification may not be made in respect of a matter affecting the validity of a grant of protection.

The Registrar may make any correction in the register pursuant to any Court order affecting a grant of protection.

The Registrar may remove from the register any matter which appears to him or her to have ceased to have effect.

The Registrar may enter the following in the register:

Where a grant of protection has been transferred to another person, or a licence (including a licence granted under section 34) has been granted or transferred, an entry of this fact must, upon request and the payment of the prescribed fee, be made in the register.

The Registrar and any officer of the Registry are not to be taken to warrant the correctness or validity of a grant of protection or the registration of a denomination under this Act or under any international agreement or convention to which Singapore is a party.

The Registrar, any officer of the Registry and any Examiner mentioned in section 17(1) and officer thereof (if the Examiner is not an individual), do not incur any liability by reason only of, or in connection with, any examination required or authorised by this Act, or any such international agreement or convention, or any report or other proceedings consequent on such examination.

Except as provided in subsection (2) or by rules made under this Act, there is no appeal to the Court from a decision of the Registrar for any matter under this Act.

The following are subject to appeal to the Court:

An appeal does not lie to the appellate court from a decision of the Court on appeal from a decision of the Registrar for any matter under this Act unless leave to appeal is given by the appellate court.