- Home
- 1. Recent Changes
- 2. About this Manual, Quality, and Customer Engagement
- 2.1. Using This Manual
- 2.2 Customer Engagement, Quality Management and Timeliness
- 2.3 Procedures for Updating This Manual
- 3. PBR Process Maps
- 4. Part 1 - Application for PBR and Acceptance
- 4.1 Scope and Nature of Plant Breeder's Rights
- 4.2 Roles in a PBR Application
- 4.3 Form an application must take
- 4.4 Variety Denomination
- 4.5 Prior Sales
- 4.6 Priority
- 4.7 Acceptance or Rejection of PBR Application
- 4.7.1 Prima Facie Case for Breeding of the New Variety
- 4.7.2 Prima Facie Case for Distinctness of the New Variety
- 4.7.3 Breeding Process of the New Variety
- 4.8 Provisional Protection
- 5. Part 2 - Dealing With the Application After its Acceptance
- 5.1 DUS Test Growing in Australia
- 5.1.1 Centralised Testing Centres (CTC)
- 5.1.2 Pre-Examination Trial Agreement (PETA)
- 5.1.3 What to Expect During Field Examination
- 5.2 Overseas DUS Test Reports
- 5.3 Detailed Variety Description
- 5.3.1 IVDS Submissions
- 5.3.2 Further Period to Submit Detailed Description
- 5.3.3 Part 2 Forms and ACRA, GRC Submission
- 5.3.4 Ceasing of Provisional Protection
- 5.4 Public Comments
- 5.5 Withdrawals
- 5.6 Grant or Refusal
- 5.7 Revocation of PBR
- 5.8 Offer to Surrender
- 5.9 Expiry of Plant Breeder's Rights
- 6. Register of Plant Varieties
- 7. Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs)
- 8. Qualified Persons (QPs)
- 9. Variations and Prescribed Fees
- 10. PBR System User Guides
4.4.1 Naming Conventions, Synonyms and Acronyms
Overview
A Plant Breeder’s Right (PBR) protects both the name of the plant variety and an optional synonym, if required. A synonym is an additional name that may be used to commercialise the variety in Australia. Such variety names and synonyms may also be referred to as “denominations”.
Names and synonyms are nominated in the Part 1 Application Form. All variety names, including synonyms, must be compliant with the requirements set forth in s27 of the Act. This includes compliance with the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature as set forth in s27(6).
Name must be unique and not already a trademark
Applicants should confirm that their proposed variety name or synonym is unique, including verifying that the name does not already exist as a trade mark (for further information see 4.4.2 Plant Trade Marks). Applicants should also confirm that there are no existing names already applied to varieties of the same genus that their proposed name could potentially be confused with if written or pronounced. For example, “Rommer”, “Roamer” or “Romer” cannot be used as tomato variety names due to the potential for confusion with the existing variety name “Roma”.
Name must not be a genus or common name
Applicants should confirm that their proposed name is not an existing genus or variety name. As an example, Erica, Daphne, Iris and Veronica correspond to plant genus names and should not be used. Names such as Rose or Violet are also common names for plant genera and similarly should not be used.
Such words may be used as part of a name comprising two or more words, but should not be used as the final word in the name. For example, “Rose Queen” would be considered an acceptable name but not “Queen Rose”.
Variety names should also not contain the botanical or common name of its genus, or the common name of any other species in the genus.
Name must be short and avoid certain punctuation marks
Variety names are to include no more than 30 characters and should not include more than 10 syllables.
The PBR Office encourages applicants to avoid the use of punctuation marks where possible. In limited circumstances, it may be permissible to include:
A forward slash: /
A back slash: \
An apostrophe: ‘
A comma: ,
A hyphen: -
A full stop: .
A single exclamation mark: !
Names must be permitted if corresponding to the name of a person or entity
If the proposed variety name corresponds to the name of a living person, applicants are required to provide written consent from that person for the use of the name. If the name corresponds to an organisation or company, applicants are similarly required to provide written consent from the organisation or company.
If the proposed name corresponds to the name of a person who died less than 10 years prior to the application filing date, applicants are required to provide written consent from that person’s legal representative for the use of the name.
Names must not consist of common words, or contain banned words
While simple descriptive words such as “Small” or “White” may form part of a variety name, such common terms cannot be used in isolation as the variety name themselves.
Certain words, or plural forms thereof in any language, cannot be used as any part of a variety name. These include:
Cross
Hybrid
Grex
Group
Form
Maintenance
Mutant
Seedling
Selection
Sport
Strain
Variety
Improved
Transformed
Names must not exaggerate merits of the variety
Variety names should not exaggerate the merits or properties of the variety. For example, names such as “Best Ever”, “Tastiest of All” or “The Greatest” are not acceptable.
Applicants should approach any use of superlative terms such as “best” or “greatest” with caution.
Acronyms
There is no specific legislative prohibition preventing the use of acronyms in a variety name. However, applicants should approach any potential use of an acronym in a variety name with caution.
Such variety names are subject to all existing provisions of s27 and applicants should ensure, inter alia, that the name is not likely to cause confusion and that any written permission is provided where the name corresponds to a person or entity.
Temporary names
In some circumstances, applicants may be unsure of or undecided on variety names at the time of completing the Part 1 Application Form.
In such circumstances, applicants may wish to use a temporary name or synonym in their Part 1 Application Form and change this temporary name at a later date. Variety names can be changed at any time prior to the grant of PBR, but applicants should note that changes to the variety name may delay the progression of their application.
Once PBR is granted for a variety, the variety name or synonym can only be changed under limited circumstances, including:
Correction of an obvious mistake; and
Where the existing name breaches legislation.
If changing a variety name to a new name, applicants are encouraged to avoid commercial use or publication of the new name until they are notified that the new name has been accepted by IP Australia.
For further information, see 9.3 Variety Name Change.
Where a name has already been filed overseas
The policy among member countries of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is that a variety should carry the same name around the world. Accordingly, if an application for protection of the variety has already been granted in a UPOV member country, the name or denomination used in said granted application should be used in the Australian application.
An exception may be made if the name is:
Already in common use in Australia within the same denomination class; or
A trade mark in Australia with respect to live plants, plant cells and plant tissues (see 4.4.2 Plant Trade Marks).
If an applicant intends to market their variety under a differing commercial name in Australia, they may wish to consider nominating the UPOV name as a synonym in their application.
Amended Reasons
| Amended Reason | Date Amended |
|---|---|
Content migration |