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Plant Variety Protection

Chang Tsi & Partners provides full-cycle legal services for plant variety protection (PVP) for breeding companies, research institutions, and individual breeders across Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan. We have completed qualification registration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), and are authorised to handle variety rights applications for both agricultural and forestry plants. Drawing on our law firm credentials, we also provide comprehensive support in dispute resolution, litigation, and legal advisory.

Plant variety protection involves a unique intersection of technical and legal disciplines—DUS testing (distinctness, uniformity, stability) is the core component of variety rights examination, the management and submission of propagating material directly impacts the application process, and seed industry compliance (seed production and marketing permits, variety approval and registration, labelling compliance, import/export quarantine) constitutes a critical legal need for seed enterprises. Our team provides professional legal guidance across all of these areas.

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Overview

Chang Tsi & Partners provides full-cycle legal services for plant variety protection (PVP) for breeding companies, research institutions, and individual breeders across Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan. We have completed qualification registration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), and are authorised to handle variety rights applications for both agricultural and forestry plants. Drawing on our law firm credentials, we also provide comprehensive support in dispute resolution, litigation, and legal advisory.

Plant variety protection involves a unique intersection of technical and legal disciplines—DUS testing (distinctness, uniformity, stability) is the core component of variety rights examination, the management and submission of propagating material directly impacts the application process, and seed industry compliance (seed production and marketing permits, variety approval and registration, labelling compliance, import/export quarantine) constitutes a critical legal need for seed enterprises. Our team provides professional legal guidance across all of these areas.

 

Scope of Services

  • Full-process variety rights application agency: novelty/DUS assessment, document preparation, examination follow-up, and grant publication
  • Filing strategy planning: identify protectable breeding outputs and analyse combined protection for principal varieties and essentially derived varieties
  • DUS testing coordination: assist in preparing propagating material documentation and follow up on testing arrangements
  • Reexamination and office action responses
  • Annuity and renewal management
  • Variety rights database searches, novelty assessments, and similar variety comparisons
  • FTO legal assessments and competitor variety monitoring
  • Variety rights invalidation (filing and defence)
  • Administrative complaints: file complaints with MARA and provincial authorities; assist in curbing infringement through administrative enforcement channels; trade fair and online platform enforcement
  • Civil litigation: variety rights infringement litigation, preliminary injunctions, ownership disputes
  • Administrative litigation: challenge reexamination or invalidation decisions
  • Variety rights licence agreement drafting and negotiation (exclusive/sole/non-exclusive)
  • Variety rights assignment and pledge financing legal services
  • Seed production and marketing permit applications and compliance advisory
  • Variety approval and registration legal support
  • Seed labelling compliance reviews and import/export quarantine approvals
  • Ongoing legal counsel for seed enterprises and IP compliance training