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Sec 12. Transitional Provisions. 



To the extent that this Act provides increased rights and term of protection to 

 protected varieties under Sections 83(b), 111(c) and 113, any variety for which a 

 certificate of plant variety protection has been issued prior to the effective date of this Act, 

 and any variety for which an application is pending on the effective date of this Act shall 

 enjoy such increased rights and term of protection with respect to any saved seed 

 grown on or after the effective date of this Act and with respect to any variety referred 

 to in Section 111 (c) for which the acts referred to in Subsections 111(a)(1) through 

 (10) were first performed on or after the effective date of this Act The rights of such 

 varieties with respect to saved seed grown before the effective date of this Act and with 

 respect to varieties referred to in Section 111(c) for which any of the acts referred to in 

 Subsections 111(a)(1) through (10) were first performed before the effective date of 

 this Act shall continue to be governed by the provisions of the Plant Variety Protection 

 Act in effect on the day before the date of this Act: Provid e d, however, that if a pending 

 application is withdrawn and refilcd after the offcotivo date of this Act, eligibility for 

 prot e ction and th e t e rm s of protection shall b e governed by these am e ndm e nts. 



Discussion 



The revisions to proposed Section 12 reflect an industry-favored implementation of the 

 transition from the current PVP Act to the revised PVP Act which is consistent with the 

 1991 text of the UPOV Convention. Plant Variety Protection provides the owners of 

 protected varieties with rights to stop the sale and other commercialization of infringing 

 varieties. Under the 1991 text of the Convention, the rights afforded protected varieties 

 are "upgraded:" They enjoy a slightly longer term of protection (20 years versus 18 in the 

 case of most crops; 25 years in the case of trees and vines), and broader rights against 

 infringement, including a prohibition on sales of farm-saved seed and rights against 

 infringement by "essentially derived varieties" as defined in the Act. Under the industry- 

 favored transitional implementation of the new convention, these "upgrades" become 

 available immediately for existing protected varieties, but only when the owner enforces 

 his rights against sales of farm-saved seed grown on or after the effective date of the Act, 

 or against essentially derived varieties for which infringing acts (such as sales) first 

 occurred on or after the effective date of the Act. With respect to pre-existing farm-saved 

 seed and pre-existing essentially derived varieties, i.e., varieties for which one or more of 

 the potentially infringing acts (such as sale) occurred prior to the effective date of the Act, 

 the rights of the owner of the protected variety continue to be determined under the old 

 provisions of the PVP A. 



This transitional implementation is endorsed by the American Seed Trade Association and 

 the International Association of Plant Breeders for the Protection of Plant Varieties. 



