The Plant Variety Intellectual Property protection provided by a COV confers on its breeder an exclusive right:
- of production ;
- for the introduction on French territory and sale of the protected plant variety (Art L623-4 CPI).
This right applies not only to the plant variety itself, but also to any part of the variety, and to the elements of reproduction or plant propagation of the variety. It also applies to plant varieties resulting from hybridization of the initial variety whose reproduction requires the use of the initial variety.
The exclusive right of the breeder extends to:
- varieties that are not clearly distinguishable from the protected variety within the meaning of Article L.623-2 CPI (distinct, homogeneous, stable);
- varieties whose production requires the repeated use of the protected variety (L. 623-4);
- varieties which are essentially derived from the protected variety within the meaning of the same Article L. 623-2, when this variety is not itself an essentially derived variety (L. 623-4). A variety which is essentially derived from another variety, called "initial variety", is a variety that:
- is predominantly derived from the initial variety or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initial variety;
- is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety within the meaning of article L. 623-2 ;
- and, except for the differences resulting from the derivation, conforms to the initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics resulting from the genotype or combination of genotypes of the initial variety.
Since the law of December 8, 2011, on plant variety rights, anyone is free to use varieties of seed protected by a French Proprietary Variety Protection (PVP) Certificate in consideration of the payment of a remuneration (included in the sale price or set aside in the case of farm-saved seeds) to the one who has created or discovered these varieties, that is to say, the breeder.
When a farmer takes part of his crop to reseed his fields, these seeds are called "farm-saved seeds". Before the law of December 8, 2011, the practice of farm-saved seeds was prohibited. Nowadays, this practice is allowed for some species subject to the farmer paying a remuneration to the breeder of the varieties that he uses, this remuneration being called a compulsory voluntary contribution "Contribution Volontaire Obligatoire (CVO)".
The CVO protection, however, has limitations. In fact, small farmers whose cereal production does not exceed 92 tons are exempt from payment of the CVO. In addition, protected new varieties are freely accessible for farmers and researchers to make their own selection.
