Farm-saved seed is limited: The section 17 exception for farm-saved seed applies only where the variety is not listed in a taxon excluded by regulation under section 17(2). Breeders of economically important horticultural crops should check whether the relevant taxon has been excluded before assuming the exemption applies.
Priority date window: A person who has applied abroad must file in Australia within 12 months of the earliest foreign application and claim priority at the time of lodging to preserve the foreign priority date (section 29). Missing this window means a later Australian application takes the date it was actually lodged, risking loss of novelty.
Provisional protection begins on acceptance: Under section 39, an accepted applicant is treated as the grantee for the purposes of Part 5 from the date of acceptance. However, the applicant cannot actually commence infringement proceedings until PBR is finally granted. This creates a zone of protection that is real but not yet enforceable in court.
Essentially derived varieties require dual consent: Where PBR in a variety is extended by an essential derivation declaration to cover a second variety, authorisation from both the initial variety's grantee and the derived variety's grantee is required for dealings in the derived variety (section 53(2)). This is a common trap for licensees who obtain rights only from the derived variety's grantee.
Duration runs from grant, not from acceptance: The Full Federal Court confirmed in Elders Rural Services Australia Limited v Registrar of Plant Breeder's Rights [2012] FCAFC 14 that the 20-year PBR term under the new Act runs from the date of grant, not from the date the application was accepted. Applicants whose applications were accepted under the old Act but granted under the new Act receive the new Act's term.
Reasonable public access is mandatory: Section 19 imposes a positive obligation on grantees. A grantee who restricts supply, raises prices unreasonably, or fails to meet demand can be subjected to a Registrar-granted licence to a third party. This is not merely a policy aspiration; it is an enforceable statutory duty.
Name of variety is permanent: Once entered on the Register, the variety name (and any synonym) is protected as a designation for that plant class. Using that name for any other variety in the same plant class infringes section 53(1)(c), even after PBR has lapsed. Traders who rebrand or rename varieties should verify that proposed names are not reserved on the Register.
Parent variety information is confidential: Information about parent varieties provided under section 26(2)(ga) is not available for public inspection under section 36(3), except to the applicant, the applicant's authorised agent, the Minister, the Registrar, persons performing statutory duties, or prescribed persons. Third parties cannot inspect breeding pedigree details.