Plant Breeders’ Rights for Cannabis in Canada.
On October 17, 2018, recreational marijuana became legal across Canada, joining the already legal medicinal marijuana. As a result, many individuals and companies are keen to create new varieties of Cannabis for sale and are interested in protecting these new varieties.
However, there are still no definite rules for the examination and evaluation of these varieties, and many questions surrounding how this can be done, considering that cannabis is still prohibited in most countries. Even in Canada there are numerous restrictions. In fact, since marijuana has its circulation or transportation banned, many breeders are choosing to do asexual reproduction rather than seed propagation. In light of that, Ashley Chu and Eduardo Fonseca have prepared an article addressing important information about the current scenario of protection and problems and possible solutions for current and future breeders.
The article has been published by the CIOPORA, the International Community of Breeders of Asexually Reproduced Ornamental and Fruit Plants, on its website. CIOPORA is the most important Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) / Plant variety protection (PVP) association bringing together 125 plant breeders, national breeder associations, patent attorneys and Intellectual Property consultants from 25 countries. The article will also be included into the next newsletter issue for all members.
You can read and download the publication here: https://www.ciopora.org/single-post/2018/12/12/Canada-Road-to-Plant-Breeders%E2%80%99-Rights-for-Cannabis
Thank you!