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Introduction to the study
Agriculture began when early humans realized that some of the plants growing in the wild could be used for food, clothing and health care. Humans all over the world identified, selected and cultivated only those plants that were useful to them and were best suited for cultivation in their regions (Ravi, 2004). Domestication of crops started some 11 000 years ago and since then much progress has been made (Bruins, 2009).
The selection of plants to give higher yield with improved qualities has formed the basis of plant breeding since man first domesticated wild plants (Kanungwe, 2009). Until the late 1800s, crop varieties were developed by trial and error selection by farmers, with seed for the next crop saved from the current crop. Very soon after the 1900 rediscovery of Mendel’s insights into the laws of heredity, scientists sought to apply genetics to crop improvement.
This led to the direct development of ‘pure lines’ of selfpollinating crops. Pure lines are uniform, breed true to type and contain consistent and identifiable traits that can be transferred to other plants (Dutfield, 2008). Today, plant breeding uses techniques from simple selection to complex molecular methods to integrate desirable traits into existing varieties to meet human needs. Plant breeders work with all kinds of crops, such as agricultural (or field) crops, horticultural crops (including ornamentals), forage and turf crops and forest crops. Numerous contributions have been made by plant breeding over the years and plant breeders have focused on increasing the yield of varieties, on resistance to biotic and abiotic stress and tolerance to abiotic stress.
Other factors that have been altered for the benefit of mankind are: earliness, taste, size, nutritional and crop quality, firmness, shelf-life, plant type and harvestability (Bruins, 2009).
Chapter 1 Introduction and objectives
1.1 Introduction to the study
1.2 Literature Review
1.2.1 Plant Breeding
1.2.2 The Green Revolution
1.2.3 Intellectual Property Rights
1.2.4 International Agreements
1.2.4.1 The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
1.2.4.2 The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Convention
1.2.4.3 The Convention on Biological Diversity
1.2.5 National Arrangements
1.2.5.1 Legislation
1.2.5.2 Draft National Policy on Intellectual Property, 2013
1.2.6 Policy Development
1.3 Aims and objectives
1.3.1 Aim
1.3.2 Objectives
1.4 Scope and limitations of the study
1.5 Methodology
1.7 Organisation of the study
Chapter 2 Plant Breeders’ Rights in South Africa: An overview of Legal Framework
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 1976 (Act No. 15 of 1976)
2.2.1 Who can apply for a plant breeder’s right
2.2.2 Subject matter for protection
2.2.3 Requirements for protection
2.2.4 Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) Testing
2.2.5 Scope of plant breeder’s right
2.2.6 Exceptions to the Plant Breeder’s Right
2.2.7 Periods of protection
2.2.8 The Registra
2.2.9 The Appeal Board
2.3 General Trends in applications and grants of plant breeders’ rights
2.4 Amendments to the Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) Act
2.5 Conclusions
Chapter 3 Plant Breeders’ Rights in Seed Crops
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Farmers’ Rights
3.3 The UPOV Convention and the Farmers’ Privilege
3.4 Alternatives to UPOV
3.5 Experiences in other countries
3.6 Restrictions on seed saving
3.7 Conclusions
Chapter 4 The Farmers’ Privilege Concept: A South African Perspective
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Methodology
4.3 Results
4.4 Discussion
4.5 Recommendation from stakeholders
4.6 Legislative Review
4.7 Conclusion
Chapter 5 Plant Breeders’ Rights and Genetically Modified Organisms
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Debates around GMOs
5.3 International Agreements
5.3.1 The World Trade Organization (WTO)
5.3.2 The Codex Alimentarius tection Convention (IPPC)
5.3.5 The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety
5.3.6 Nagoya-Kuala Lumpur Supplementary Protocol on Liability and Redress to the Cartagena Protocol
5.4 National Legislation
5.4.1 The Genetically Modified Organisms Act, 1997 (Act of 1997) (GMO Act)
5.4.2 The National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, 2004 (Act 10 of 2004) (The NEMBA)
5.4.3 Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act, 1972 (Act 52 of 1972)
5.4.4 Consumer Protection Act, 2008 (Act 68 of 2008)
5.5 Intellectual Property and GMOs
5.5.1 Dual Protection
5.5.2 Protection by Plant Breeders’ Rights
5.6 Discussion and Conclusions
Chapter 6 Plant Breeders’ Rights and Indigenous Ornamental Crops
Chapter 7 Plant Breeders’ Rights and Medicinal Plants
Chapter 8 General Conclusions
References
