Turkish Plant Variety Office has published an annual report regarding the applications and registrations for the plant varieties in 2019.
The report provides the following figures which cover the total application and registration activity since September 2004 when Turkey first started to accept the applications for the protection of the plant varieties after the issuance of the Regulation for the protection of the plant varieties (Reg. No. 25551 dated 12.08.2004) in Turkey.
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| Numbers of the applied-for, protected and cancelled plant varieties over the years in Turkey |
According to the report, the number of the applications decreased in 2019 compared to 2018. The report informs that the recordal of the plant varieties (seed registration) under the regulation for recording the plant varieties) is widely thought as obtaining protection for the plant varieties by the plant breeders, whereas it is not the case as the protection is provided by the applications through the plant variety rights. This wrong assumption still keep the application numbers lower than what is expected.
The report emphasizes that Turkey started to accept the applications for all the plant genies and species of the UPOV as from 2018.
According to the report, in 2019, the Turkish Plant Variety Office received 2.214 applications, 1.978 of which were accepted after performing the examinations and 81 of which were refused due to various reasons, mostly lack of novelty and omissions for duly submitting the documents.
Accordingly, 1.422 applications of the total 1.978 accepted applications has been put under the protection. The technical examinations of the 403 applications are still ongoing.
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| Number of Applications in 2019 and status thereof |
The Report informs that the crops are the first to be applied for and put under protection.
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| Number of the plant variety applications and protections in 2019 according to the plant groups |
According to the report, %42 of the applicants are domestic while 58% of those are of foreign origin.
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| Percentage of domestic and foreign applications of Plant Varieties in 2019 |
Among the foreign-originated applications filed in 2019, the Netherlands comes first and is followed by USA and Spain.
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| Number of plant varieties applications in 2019 by foreign countries |
Among the companies, Nunhems B.V., a Netherland's company owned by the German chemical giant BASF, is ranked first with its 125 applications. Nunhems B.V. is followed with 118 and 117 applications by Monsanto A.S. and Trakya Tarımsal Araştırma Enstitüsü, respectively.
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| Number of the plant varieties applications in 2019 according to the companies and institutions |
The report is also making specific emphasis on the following points:
- Turkey participated in UPOV PBR online application tool (PRISMA) as from 2017, whereby breeders can submit applications in any participating UPOV Members.
- A cooperation agreement is signed with Japan Plant Variety Protection Office. According to the agreement, no official fee will be requested by the Turkish Plant Variety Office for the DUS tests prepared by Japan PVP Office, while Japan PVP Office will pay 150 EURO for the DUS tests prepared in Turkey.
- Turkish PVR Office advises that it would be appropriate to use genetic analysis methods in comparing the production material or product claimed to be violated with the protected variety, and this method is very important in terms of the rapid conclusion of the legal cases.
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