CPVO announces reduction in annual maintenance fees for EU-PVR

In a long-anticipated move, the Community Plant Varieties Office (CPVO), the body that administers plant variety rights applications and grants across the EU, has announced that the annual maintenance charge levied for granted rights is to be reduced from ä‰å300 to ä‰å200 per annum with effect from 2006. This welcome move will reduce the cost of maintaining rights and encourage breeders to make rights applications and maintain their rights in varieties that are likely to be sold in smaller numbers – particularly useful for some ornamental perennial and woody plants. It is PFE’s position that we would like to see the annual charge abolished completely such that the European charges system is similar to that for US Plant Patent, whereby all charges are levied at the time of application and grant without continuing charges for the rest of the commercial life of the plant.