CHAPTER IX
Issuance and Publication of PVP Certificate
ARTICLE 56. Issuance of Certificate. – When the Board, through the PVP Office, has tested and examined the variety, or considered the supporting materials and literature pertinent thereto, and found everything in order, it shall issue a Certificate of Plant Variety Protection. [Sec. 32]
ARTICLE 57. Publication of Certificate. – The Certificate of Plant Variety Protection shall be published in the Plant Variety Gazette, at the expense of the holder, within thirty (30) days of its issuance and upon payment by the applicant of the publication fee. The publication shall contain the PVP Certificate Number, the name or denomination of the variety, the crop species, and the name of the certificate holder.
CHAPTER X
Rights of Holders
ARTICLE 58. Rights of Holders of Plant Variety Protection. – In respect of the propagating materials, holders of a Certificate of Plant Variety Protection shall have the right to authorize any of the following acts:
a) Production or reproduction;
b) Conditioning for the purpose of propagation;
c) Offering for sale;
d) Selling or other marketing;
e) Exporting;
f) Importing; and
g) Stocking for any purpose mentioned above. [Sec. 36]
The holder may make his authorization subject to conditions and limitations. [Sec. 37]
ARTICLE 59. Acts in Respect of Harvested Materials. – Except for Articles 67 and 68, the lights in Sections 36 and 37 of the Act shall also extend to the harvested materials which may be the entire plant or its other parts, if the production thereof resulted directly from the unauthorized use of the plant’s propagating materials. However, the right to the harvested material can not be invoked if the holder has had the reasonable opportunity to exercise his right in relation to the said propagating materials. [Sec. 38]
ARTICLE 60. Coverage of Protection. – The rights of a holder of a Certificate of Plant Variety Protection under Articles 58 and 59 shall also apply in relation to:
a) Varieties which are essentially derived, as defined under Articles 63 and 64, from the protected variety, where the protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety;
b) Varieties which are not clearly distinct from the protected variety; and
c) Varieties whose production requires the repeated use of the protected variety. [Sec. 39]
ARTICLE 61. Terms of Protection. – For trees and vines, the period of protection shall be twenty-five (25) years from the date of the grant of the Certificate of Plant Variety Protection and twenty (20) years from the said date for all other types of plants, unless declared void ab initio or cancelled otherwise, as provided under Articles 92 and 93, respectively. [Sec. 33]
ARTICLE 62. Provisional Protection. – An applicant for a Certificate of Plant Variety Protection shall be entitled to equitable remuneration from any person who, during the period between the publication of the application for the certificate and the grant of that certificate, has carried out acts which, once the certificate is granted, require the holder’s authorization as conferred under these Rules; provided, that the applicant shall initiate the legal action against the alleged infringer within two (2) years from the date of the granting of his Certificate of Plant Variety Protection. [Sec. 42]
ARTICLE 63. Essentially Derived Varieties. – For purposes of Article 60, a variety shall be deemed to be essentially derived from the initial variety when:
a) It is predominantly derived from the initial variety, or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initial variety, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety;
b) It is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety; and
c) Except for the differences which result from the act of derivation, it conforms to the initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety. [Sec. 42]
ARTICLE 64. Manner of Developing Essentially Derived Varieties. – Essentially derived varieties may also be obtained through processes which include, but are not limited to: (i) the selection of a natural or induced mutant or of a somaclonal variant; (ii) the selection of a variant individual from plants of initial variety; and (iii) backcrossing or transformation by genetic engineering. [Sec. 41 ] A variety derived by means of backcrossing shall be deemed essentially derived on the fourth backcross.
ARTICLE 65. Transmission of Rights. – Plant variety protection or application for plant variety protection shall be considered as a property right and the transmission thereof shall be governed in the same manner and extent as other property rights. They may be assigned or transmitted by inheritance or bequest or be the subject of a license agreement. [Sec. 46]
Any transmission of rights, by assignment, inheritance, bequest or license, may pertain to the entire right, title or interest in and to the plant variety protection or application for plant variety protection, or of an undivided share in the plant variety protection or application for plant variety protection.
Unless by inheritance, the transmission of plant variety protection or application for plant variety protection shall be in writing and acknowledged before a notary public or any officer authorized to administer oaths. An original or authenticated copy and one duplicate copy of the transmission instrument shall be submitted to the PVP Office for recording in the Plant Variety Registry. Upon recording, the PVP Office shall retain the duplicate copy return, the original or authenticated copy to the party who filed the same and publish a notice of the recording in the Plant Variety Gazette. A transmission of rights not recorded in the PVP Office shall not bind any third party who has had no knowledge of such transmission.
ARTICLE 66. Right of Attribution. – The person who bred, or discovered and developed, the variety has the right to be identified as such in the Certificate of Plant Variety Protection: Provided, however, that this right may only be asserted in writing to the Board within one (1) year from publication of the Certificate of Plant Variety Protection in the Plant Variety Gazette. [Sec. 45]
